As a student-athlete at Pickering High School, it was great to play sports for an institution that was both a football and rugby powerhouse at the time. Playing team sports for the Pickering Trojans was an amazing experience, but Phys Ed class?
Sometimes Phys Ed was fun - in those days things like full contact floor hockey inside a gymnasium was not necessarily a rare occurrence. But sometimes Phys-Ed was downright nasty. We were regularly tested in the one-mile run, the two-mile run, and the unilaterally-hated, three-point-five mile run.
Admittedly never much of a distance runner, the mile didn’t bother me much, and as I recall, I was usually mid-pack: somewhere around five-and-a-half minutes.
I was actually good at the two-mile, because for some reason I could maintain close to the same pace for twice the distance, and usually came in around 12 minutes. That was amongst the best in the class most times.
The three-point-five? Pure hell.
My good buddy Marco was the only one that liked it, because for some reason he never felt pain - ever. But for the rest of us mere mortals it was never an enjoyable experience.
Some of the non-athletic kids would actually cheat, and cut through a cornfield, as we didn’t just run a bunch of laps of the track (too hard to know what lap each person was on). No, we ran the roads of a country block, and often the teacher would drive their car behind the pack to try and catch any Rosie Ruiz-wannabees (Google her).
For those of us that pushed ourselves to be as good as we could be, it was another good friend, Jeff Street, that gave me the best advice to conquer the dreaded three-point-five. He told me one day, ‘When you get back onto Church St. [approximately 500-600m from the finish] just start singing the Theme From Rocky in your head’.
I’m not going to lie to you - it actually worked.
Since then, I’ve learned that there’s many situations in life where you need the type of boost we’d get from singing that song in our heads as we tried to ignore the pain in our legs and lungs, while pushing to sprint that last quarter-mile. And it’s not always a physical boost you need as an adult, but more often a mental one.
When I trained horses for a living I’d often turn to the ‘Race Replay’ for a boost - as I’m sure many of you can relate. This is a tough business, and there are many times when you just have to sit and watch a few replays of your best wins, to give you the mindset you may need to push onwards.
For me, the main two replays of choice were of Chris Seelster (December 26, 1994) and Pronovais (March 28, 2004) - both at Woodbine. I’m sure many of you have your go-to replays as well, and know exactly what I’m talking about.
In the preceding pages of this magazine we tell people’s interesting stories of great two-year-olds from the past. We also share stories of current two-year-olds that are showing great promise. Many of these babies are by the sport’s top sires, and many are part of 30, 40 and 50-horse stables as well.
But I, for one, am well aware that for every 50-horse stable with a dozen expensive two-year-olds, there are dozens of small stables full of cheap claimers and homebreds.
But Brent MacGrath found Somebeachsomewhere, and Rod Hughes found San Pail, and stories like those allow everyone, whether they have fifty expensive horses or five cheap ones, to dream.
But to chase that dream, we all need a few race replays, a ‘Theme From Rocky’ or something else to give us that boost when needed. So remember that, and don’t be afraid to use it. We all do it.
I’m actually luckier than most though, when it comes to this, because on top of the Theme From Rocky and my race replays, I have a secret weapon.
After graduating from Pickering High, I moved on to play five years of football at The University of Ottawa. During my first two years there I was blessed with a much older Francophone teammate from Quebec who was playing his last two years: All-Canadian Nose Tackle, Richard Jolicoeur (just picture the Tasmanian Devil from Looney Tunes but about 100 times more intense).
If you were tiring during a run or a drill; if you were trying to squeeze out another rep on the bench press; if you were doing anything where he thought you needed a boost… he ‘urged’ you on - verbally, while very close to your face. And you were instantly able to do things you never thought you could do.
I can still hear the screams of my old teammate Richard when I choose to, and he still gives me that necessary boost when I need it.
If I could only package him and sell him to horsepeople down on their luck, I’d be rich. But until I can, keep using your race replays, pictures of your children, and anything else that works for you.
One day we’ll be interviewing you about your champion two-year-old, or your $200,000 yearling purchase. I can see it, just as clear as I could hear those words as I ran up Church St., past the Pickering Village Arena, finishing the three-point-five, all those years ago…
Tryin' hard now, it's so hard now
Tryin' hard now
Feelin' strong now, won't be long now
Feelin' strong now
Gonna fly now, flying high now
Gonna fly… fly… fly…
Dan Fisher [email protected]