Two weeks into my cross country career, I was ready to quit.
I was a gangly 14-year-old high school freshman, battling asthma, having “run” a handful of miles before that first summer workout. After two weeks of long-distance runs, speed drills and hill repeats in sticky humidity, I asked myself, “Is this really for me?” and was about to throw in my scuffed Nikes.
But I stuck with it, maybe because, if anything, the workouts gave me something to do after school. And honestly, I didn’t want to give in that easily.
The weeks of running turned into months, and months turned into years. Having logged hundreds of miles on many pairs of scuffed Nikes, I talked myself into training for the Boston Marathon during my first year at Boston University.
It was an unseasonably warm April Monday in New England, and 26.2 miles left me badly sunburned and limping for about a week. But it was worth it, and it made me think how far I’d come as a runner and a person from those first weeks of high school cross country.
In many ways, The Baltimore Examiner has been a marathon for all of us — editors, reporters, ad staff, marketers. Taking a chance on a new venture. Learning from the trials and errors. At times contemplating giving in to frustration and quitting.
But I, along with others, have crossed the finish line of our time with The Examiner. And like exhausted marathoner runners, we’re finally catching our breath, looking back at what we accomplished.
We ran fast at The Examiner, cramming as many daily local, business and sports news stories and advertisements into the paper we could each and every day.
There was hardly any time to appreciate what we were doing. But now that it’s over, we can all look back and be proud of being part of a publication that took a chance.
The run at The Examiner ended earlier than we expected, and it might take some time for us to recover. But like seasoned runners, we’ll all soon be back on our feet, itching for another race.
Andrew Cannarsa has been a business reporter with The Baltimore Examiner since July 2007. He can be reached at [email protected].
