Ashley Butt

Dropping Out

Have you ever been in a race that you know you haven’t prepared for? You signed up, and then meant to start training, and then before you know it, you just….didn’t. And then the race day is here, and you start out feeling ok, fueled by the adrenaline of the other runners, the high of the race. A few kilometres in, you know you can’t keep up the pace, so you slow to a walk. This is ok, you think. I can walk the whole time and still finish. So you walk most of the time, with some running spurts interspersed; but never for long, because each burst of speed is less of a burst and more of a “fuck, I have to run again?” Eventually, you stumble over the finish line, happy to have completed the race.