Kevin Raybur

’s Run Essay, Research Paper

Kevin Raybur’s run

1968, Six o.clock in the morning

The Olympic village was quiet in its lazy sleep, but Kevin Reybur was

already awake, and ready to run. The easy 8-mile morning workout

was only a part of the blonde-haired phenomenon.s training schedule.

Later in the afternoon he would suffer through fifteen miles of

pace-work and intervals on the golf cart paths and quiet streets of

the peaceful suburbs of Mexico City.

Despite his short legs and strong upper body -unusual characteristics

for a distance runner- Kevin was really a man born to run. His

specialty was the 5000 meter event. By breaking the Southeastern

High School Conference record in his junior year, and setting the

national record in his senior year, Kevin had the attention of all of the

college scouts and was offered full scholarships to many Universities.

He chose to attend D.W. Daniel University because they had the best

coach in the country; the one man capable of guiding him to the top.

Kevin was confident that he would not only beat the best, but also

be the best.

With no idea of what he would major in, his reality was different from

most of his university fellows: he wanted to win, and that is the only

thought that consumed his mind and soul. Kevin.s performance in

collegiate meets got him an invitation to the Olympic Trials, and by

winning the trials he earned a spot on the 1968 Olympic team. Just to

represent the country in the summer Olympics in Mexico City was

never his ambition. He had to win.

“It.s six in the frickin. morning Kevin! Where the hell are you going in

this rain.” his roommate Bert cursed.

” The gold is waiting for me and I can.t lose time listening to your

complaints, just because it.s wet outside. I have to work hard to

make up for my lack of pure talent.” Kevin replied.

“Hurghf…” Bert sighed and pushed his head deep into his pillow, as he

would do every morning for the two weeks of the 17th modern

Olympic Games.

Kevin went out in to the bitter morning rain, which quickly soaked

through his lucky golden running cap, and covered his head, which

was full of thoughts only of the rhythmic pattering of his feet and of

the long empty streets ahead. He did not even notice that his toes

were wet and blistered. His shoes, well worn from many punishing

miles, no longer had the cushioning or fit that he needed. A smear of

dried blood on the left shoe marked his latest injury where he got

spiked by Viatcheslav Ekimov of the Russian team in practice the day

before. The rainwater began to wash out the stain and the red tinted

water streaked down over the side of the shoe, mixing with the hand

written black ink of the words “Gold Medal”. The national anthem

pulsed through in his head, faster and faster, keeping up with the

beat of his ever-quickening footsteps. The corners of his mouth

curled up, forming a menacing, devious smile. He owned the road.

Despite his winning every single collegiate 5000-meter race that he

competed in, most people did not believe he would ever make it to

the Olympics. His aggressive, forced stride and his short legs that

had to step quicker than those of the natural runners with long

rhythmic strides, and lean bodies built for speed made him the

under-dog from the start. Also the fact that he was poor and could

not afford a nutritionist or professional level equipment was a real

concern. The university running team was poorly supported, and all

the promised alumni money was used to support the football team,

instead of for hiring a nutritionist and other support staff for the

track team. The only reason that Kevin stayed at UDWD was that Phil

Liggett was the best coach, and best friend that he ever had. Phil

was like a father to Kevin, and was the only person that understood

why Kevin had to run, and why the sport of running needed Kevin.

Phil was a bold, tall man in his mid-fifties that was once a world class

runner, and was now spending his retirement years searching for

talents such as Kevin Reybur. And Phil did a good job: in a year.s time

the twenty-two-year-old Kevin was running like greased lightning,

and taking more records than a junkie in a music store.

As it happened many times during his life, his fierce willpower made

him look ahead and follow his destiny. Winning was definitely more

important than studying. Of course dropping out of college with a full

scholarship in his hand was not the smartest thing to do, so he barely

managed to keep his grades up to passing. But his thoughts were

consumed by running.

The things that Kevin could not get from the team, he managed to

get on his own. Working as a bartender at the college bar was the

best way he found to pay for equipment and healthy food. He would

go to

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