Term End

Term End
by Franny Robertson
July 16, 2008
Burke Mountain Academy 


I’m spinning. I’m in the GTC for the last time all year, attempting to flush out the lactic acid from GMR. It’s quiet, the entire campus is dormant. I don’t dare turn on any music, not knowing who could be sleeping nearby. Today the silence seems just right. I look down, not attempting to seek anything in particular, but my eyes rest on the purple band on my wrist. That’s when I really started to reflect.

I’m running. My entire body aches from the previous weeks workout, but no pain I feel can make me stop running. It’s 1.75, I have to keep running, faster and faster, trying to beat my previous record. My breathing is so quick, I am sucking in breaths. I think of every excuse to stop and turn around. I glance down to check the time. Instead of looking at my watch, I see purple. I look back up, I run harder.

I’m studying. I’m in upstairs Frazier, it’s close to midnight. I have every reference from the entire year laid out in front of me. I’m editing and re writing all my papers for my portfolio. No one knows that I’m up here except my dorm parents. I cannot think, my mind is in a rut. I wonder to myself why I am up here this late when I could be asleep like everyone else. I start fidgeting with the jewelry on my wrist. I play with the silver heart bracelet, then the hemp bracelet, but my hands don’t settle until I feel the rubber purple bracelet. I pick my head back up, I realize the answer to my question. I’m up here this late at night, yes, first of all because I procrastinated, but most importantly, because I care. I am a student athlete. There is a reason why the word student comes first. I keep writing.

I’m wrenching. It’s three forty five and the lifts close at four. I am one of four girls actually pulling the course. I’m tired and it has been a long day. I could be inside with my boots off like the rest of the girls, but I’m not, I’m outside un-wrenching the course. I’m sweating, I pull up my sleeve and my purple band falls through. I keep wrenching. I am a ski racer. As a ski racer there are things that we don’t like to do like set and pull courses, but it is part of the deal that we have to do those things. It gives us more respect for what we’re doing when we actually are part of the breaking down and setting up of our training.

I never had the pleasure of meeting Shelley, but from what I know about her she was an exceptional human being. She always kept her head up and was positive towards everyone around her. She was remarkable and had the ability to make anyone laugh. She absolutely loved ski racing, she put her whole heart into it no matter how rough it got. Why shouldn’t we do the same? Through my hard times at Burke, and even my good times, this is what I think about. I’m running up the mountain with my friend on my back, I’m skiing down at rapid speeds, I’m sitting in the classroom engaging as much as mentally possible, but when I look down, all I see is purple. And that is why I do it.