As far as track and field goes, April was a month of Lasts. In a way, I had two last home meets: first at my alma mater in Azusa, California, and two weeks later, in northwest Washington where I currently reside.
It meant the world to have so many people come out to cheer me on this weekend. It was bigger than hearing people yelling in the stands. It was knowing that there’s people in my corner, even here, so far from the place I was born.
Track meets are intimidating. I know the feeling of standing on a start line, desperately scanning the crowd for a familiar face. Someone you know waving, someone who loves you to hug. Although you’re alone in your race– no one else can run for you, no one else can carry you through the race– you don’t want to feel alone before the race begins. Standing there as a small person in front of a big, anonymous crowd, it is so easy to feel alone, to feel scared, to wonder why you’re doing this and whom you’re doing it for.
Moving 1000 miles from home was intimidating too. When I dropped off Rachie at the airport in August of 2022, I realized I didn’t have a single phone number memorized in a 1000 mile radius. What if something happened to me on a run? Who would pick me up? How would I get home?
Almost two years into living in Washington, I now feel like I can call this place a home. Not just because I live here and feel a deep fondness for this place. But because I have a real community out here. I have three local phone numbers memorized. And I have 15 friends who would come to a track meet and sit in the cold for 2-3 hours just to cheer me on for 2-3 minutes. Not because they’re on the track team and required to be here, since they’re not. But because they love me and want to be present to support me.
A lot can change in two years. Finding community can be fast, but building community– building up and building down– deepening community— takes time.
Last year I considered this a home meet just because I lived three minutes away from the track. This year I considered this a home meet for so much more. Instead of driving home to sleep between my events, I hung out in the stands with my friends. It was far more refreshing. And that is all the difference in the world.
The More the Marianer 