“You wrote a book? Who's going to read it?" When asked by the 3-time U.S. Olympic Team Trials qualifier, Caitlin, I was speechless for a moment.
I met Caitlin (well, she caught me on the trail) back in 2016 when I was running 2:45~2:50 marathons, making me an absolutely perfect training partner for her. She was way faster than I was during that time, and I literally learned the race "Olympic Trials" from her. If you listen to how she described the race, you almost think it's just another Boston Marathon.
"Yeah I ran it in 2012, and I qualified again." Caitlin called herself a sub-elite runner, making me wondering if I can call myself as a sub-sub-sub-elite?
Anyway, in 2019 she ran Boston with 2:40:27, making her 3rd qualifier in 8 years. After Boston I got to take a long rest because she also did the same, until 2020 Olympic Trials is around the corner.
"Hey Jay, you wanna run tomorrow?"
"Hey Jay, what's your workout next week?"
"Jay, you got to train with me!"
It's been 2 big training cycles for me in 2019, and I was way too tired to start anything soon. With the daily greeting from her, I can't do anything but reply "But I might be too slow for you now" - which is totally the truth. I was also sick and sidelined for 2 weeks.
Being able to put some really nice training in the past few weeks, I finally feel like I can take her challenge again, so say yes to her next workout. Little did I know during the time I was resting and recovering, she did not settle and now is almost at her peak state.
Today's 3*3 miles on slightly rolling I made several attempts to break through, but she all caught me with ease. When we finally finished the workout, I was pretty happy about it.
"How do you feel?" I asked.
"Not really trying too hard." She answered.
Now I am heading back to Taiwan for a short vacation. But once I come back, Caitlin will be there waiting, and probably planning for something brutal again.
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「嘿！為什麼你出了一本書啊，誰在看？」面對下個月即將要第三度參加奧運選拔賽*，橫跨 12 年的業餘菁英女子選手凱特琳的質問，我一時語塞。
*美國的奧運選拔賽標準採取的是 2016 年的舊制，也就是女子 2:45, 男子 2:19 以內可以報名。對於她來說，參加的實質意義大於真正勝出（畢竟職業組的實力強上一個級別），不過也是難得可以跟全美的菁英較勁的機會。
我跟她相識早在 2016 年，就是那個我跑在 2:45-2:50 之間，看起來很適合陪她練的時期，當然，那時候她的實力是遠遠高出我一截的。我也是從她口中才得知，有「奧運選拔賽」這種事，而她敘述的態度，就跟一般人跑波士頓馬拉松一樣正常。
「喔對呀，我跑過。嗯，今年我也合格了。」她把自己稱為「#業餘次菁英」，這樣的人在美國拉拉雜雜也是有幾十、一百個。嗚，我突然間覺得把自己稱為次菁英有點過頭了，有沒有機會改成 #次次次菁英 呢？
總而言之，在 2019 年她在波士頓馬拉松跑出 2:40:27, 連續三屆橫跨 8 年達標。在那之後我得以好好休息了很長一段時間，直到⋯⋯2020 奧運選拔賽就在眼前了。
「Jay，你明天練什麼？」
「Jay，你下禮拜練什麼？」
「Jay，陪我練！」
去年經歷了兩個大週期，我真是累到爆，只想好好躺著。面對她連珠炮式的追問，我只好說「誒⋯⋯我怕我跟不上你」（事實上也是真的），不幸中的大幸是這段過程中我還真的病了一場，所以順理成章躺了兩週。
過了幾週的訓練、恢復，我覺得現在準備好可以開始訓練了，於是答應了她今天的 workout.⋯⋯卻忘了我在休息的時候，她可沒閒著。她 PEAK 了！
今天的 3*4800m 跑在起伏步道上，我幾次試圖加速都被她臉不紅氣不喘的抓回來。但是最後完成了整組 workout, 我實在太滿意了！
「你感覺怎麼樣？」我問。
「呃，沒太用力，輕鬆？」她說。
下個月底她即將前往亞特蘭大參加選拔賽，而我只慶幸我可以先回台灣喘個一週，雖然到時候迎接我的，一定是更強的她⋯⋯。
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P.S. 這篇文是她逼我寫的 (by只敢用中文偷偷抱怨的Me)
P.S.S. 有沒有人想學英文作文了？
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