Cross Country in Bend, Oregon

by Mario Jane '80, Houston,Texas 

This special occasion took place in Bend Oregon at the 1979 Cross Country Regional Meet. My track season during the spring had been a failure due to several reasons, horrible weather that caused me injuries, and health related issues with my mother that forced me to leave school for a while.  After my return I won the 1500 meters at the conference meet, but I was not ready for any major undertakings, so I placed last in the 1500 meters and also dropped out of the 5000 meters at the Regional Meet in Salem Oregon. I felt awful, sad, and very disappointed. The trip back to Rexburg was painful, there were times when with my face against the window, tears came down my cheeks, I even considered quitting.  Once back in town, I realized that I could not abandon what I loved very much, I also remember the valuable lessons of courage and determination taught to me by my mother, qualities that she developed as a result of her participation in sports.  I rested for 10 days and then I began training for Cross Country with a renewed commitment and faith. I needed a second chance.  Everything went fine until the middle of July when I was diagnosed Plantar Fasciitis. Long hours of hard work along with the wrong shoes were the cause.  I stopped running for about 3 weeks, and then I broke a bone of my left hand during a singles ward activity.  Thus, when I began running again was very slow and somewhat limited. The season began an I did not do well in the first month, October came and I improved a little, however, the shadow of a more serious injury was hanging over me when a pain in the abdominal area appeared, I could not handle it.  The last week in October was promising I attended the Utah State Invitational in Logan and I placed 12th in a really good field.  It was my best race and time especially against 4-year schools. I felt optimistic for regionals.  So here we were in Bend Oregon cold and rainy.  The race started on a flat course, the front group took position, I was one of them, (15 runners would qualify for nationals and only 7 of them would receive all region honors). After passing the first mile, the abdominal pain hit me really hard; I had to slow down in order to survive.  I prayed and prayed for strength and intelligence to handle the pain and remain in the race.  By the time the group passed the 4th mile(by now I was in 25th place) I said a final prayer and I thought, this is it and I began pushing the pace and kept doing it passing runners until I crossed the tape, helped by my Heavenly Father and my Savior Jesus Christ to arrive in 6th place.  This was an important athletic achievement, but the outstanding lesson was much deeper than that. It was by grace that I had been carried to the end after my feeble body had given all.  Like the song, with God nothing is impossible. This experience strengthened my growing testimony of the gospel. I had joined the Church 2 years earlier.