Who here likes baseball?
If you do, then keep reading this blog because it’s sort of about
baseball. If you don’t, keep reading
because it’s not really about baseball.
And if you don’t like or understand baseball you’re still OK because I
want to talk about Babe Ruth, and everyone has heard of him (and if you haven’t,
then this will be a great history lesson).
And if you’re a Red Sox fan, keep the whole “we were cursed because we
traded Babe Ruth to the Yankees” thing to yourself. You weren’t cursed. You sucked.
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| Babe Ruth |
OK, for whoever is still reading this (which I’m guessing is
nobody from Boston), Babe Ruth was one of the greatest ball players of all
time. He is 3rd on the list
for the most career home runs. Babe Ruth
retired from baseball in 1935, which means that in 79 years, only 2 other
players have beaten him in career home runs (Barry Bonds and Hank Aaron). Two players in 79 years. The only active player in the top 10 is
A-Rod, so the Babe has nothing to worry about this year.
Once Babe Ruth was asked what he attributed his 714 career
home runs to. His answer: “I never let
the fear of striking out get in my way.”
Now, I didn’t know about this quote until I looked it up a few minutes
ago, but that thought was in my head all weekend.
This was a big sports weekend for me. I had the LGBT 5 Mile Pride Run on Saturday,
and an 11 mile bike ride at Harriman State Park on Sunday. The LGBT Pride race is my favorite of the
year, and as I wrote on my Facebook status would only be better if I was
running in a country where every citizen had the same rights as each
other. But I don’t want to get into
politics here, so let me talk a bit about the race. I have run this race several times, and it’s
a lot of fun. Thousands of people from
all walks of life put their inhibitions down and are just have fun. It seems to always be a warm, sunny day, and
when you finish you get a rainbow Popsicle which is really how every summer
race should end.
Since I’ve run this race many times and since it is always
my favorite race of the year (and since I knew that a mere 5 miles was the only
thing standing between me and a rainbow Popsicle), you’d think I was all
excited to do this race. Nope. Far from it.
I didn’t want to do it at all. I
didn’t want to do it when I woke up that morning, when I took the train into
the city, even when I was standing in the corral waiting for the starting horn
to blow. Hell, I didn’t even want to it
when I was half way around the course. I
wasn’t sure why, but something was gnawing at me.
A few times during the race I wanted to give up. At about mile 4 I thought about walking the
last mile, but then I did a quick check in with myself. My legs felt fine. My breathing was fine. I wasn’t overly hot or feeling
dehydrated. Finally I decided that the
only problem was my head, so I ran the last mile and ended up with my 2nd
best time for that particular race. As I
walked out of the park sucking down my rainbow Popsicle, I decided it had been
as much fun as it always was.
This morning I got up wicked early to get to Harriman State
Park for my bike ride with my friend Jeff.
Because he is so much faster than me, I start about 20 – 30 minutes
ahead of him so that we theoretically end together. That way we’re in the same general area, so
if one person gets back and is waiting for anything that feels to long for the
other, they get in their car and find the other one with either a minor problem
like a flat tire, or a major problem like a painful introduction to a deer or
motor vehicle.
I was in a tizzy for the entire drive up, which was only
exacerbated when I had to drive over the Tappan Zee Bridge. For those who don’t know, I have 2 phobias:
rodents, and driving over bridges.
Rodents weren’t too much of a problem this morning, but the Tappan Zee
Bridge is about 3 miles long, which means that I can feel my heart beating in
my ears for three miles as I picture the car flying over the side and plunging
into the Hudson River. I of course got
over it just fine, and as soon as I was safely on the other side I knew how
ridiculous it is to be afraid of bridges (though I was just as scared on my way
home). Anyway, I was not at all calm,
cool and collected when I started my ride, and my fears just got worse along
the way. Please understand that Harriman
is the perfect place to ride, especially early on a Sunday morning. The roads
are wide, usually have shoulders, and there are no blind turns. There are very few cars, and in an 18 mile
ride you will encounter 1 stop sign and zero traffic lights. Also, it’s gorgeous up there; mountains,
lakes, lots of wildlife. You’re thinking
“Ali, then what the hell were you scared of?”
Great question. The ride itself
was great. It was calm and without
incident. I even got to see 8 deer and 1
wild turkey. So what was so scary? No idea.
Anyway, my pulse was racing and I knew it wasn’t from the
hills. I was terrified. Up hills are fine, but picking up speed on
down hills are where I get the most nervous, and I had to talk myself through a
few of them (yes, I’m afraid of mice and bridges, and I talk to myself when I
ride my bicycle. I am a psychology
student’s graduate thesis just looking for a place to happen).
About 8 miles into the ride, Jeff caught up with me. We road together for a bit, and just
chatted. While Jeff was talking I realized
how incredibly relaxed he was on his bicycle.
He is a MUCH better athlete than me, but we were on the same part of the
same course. He was doing it, but so was
I.
After a mile or so Jeff road ahead. I realized I only had a couple of miles left
and was suddenly thrilled with the ride.
I got back to the parking lot and as I was changing shoes for my 2 mile
run, I realized that my blood pressure felt a lot lower.
During my run, I thought about it. Even though I’ve been
doing this for a few years, I still don’t feel like an athlete, or at least not
all the time. During the race on
Saturday and the ride on Sunday I realized that I was scared that I couldn’t do
it. I kept thinking of the old me that I
refer to as “Fat Girl”, who would NEVER face a challenge like doing a hilly 11
mile bike ride one day after a hilly 5 mile running race. Hell, I would have quit the minute I learned
that I was going to have to drive over a bridge. But I'm not "Fat Girl" anymore, even if I forget that once in a while.
If you let your fears get to you, then
you never get a chance to do anything great.
Babe Ruth struck out a LOT. But
he didn’t get scared and now has been in the top 3 of career home runs for
almost 80 years. Ability isn’t what
makes a person an athlete. An athlete is
a person who can stand up to their fears and run or bike right through them.
I’ll probably go for another ride at Harriman with Jeff next
weekend. If we have more time we’ll do
18 miles, which adds in some very tough hills along with the challenge of the 7
extra miles. I think the part of the day
that I’m most excited about is driving over the Tappan Zee Bridge.
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