At the end of the fall sports season, Alex Craig was dealing with a hip injury. It was not one he thought would be a major issue going forward, but something that could become a larger issue if he didn’t handle himself properly. The injury sidelined him for two weeks; then he was only allowed to run lightly for the next two weeks. After that month-long period, the Old Rochester junior was able to start rebuilding his strength and endurance.
Unfortunately for Craig, the winter indoor track schedule started soon after his period of rest and rehab ended so he decided it was best for him to not compete for ORR during the winter.
“I knew I wouldn’t be able to race in a lot of (the meets), and I didn’t want to feel pressured to race in them,” Craig said. “I knew if I raced too soon that I wouldn’t fully recover from my injury and it might bug me for a while.
“It was a tough decision. I thought about it for a while. I definitely didn’t take that decision lightly. I thought it was the best thing to do.”
But Craig wasn’t throwing in the towel on the 2019-20 season. He was just putting things on hold.
“There (were) a lot of meets up at (Boston University) in the winter so, I figured, just enter one of those when I felt like I was ready to race again and then see how it went from there,” he said.
Suffice it to say, it went pretty well for Craig.
The ORR junior crushed his personal record of 4:36 in the mile, improving it by 17 seconds down to 4:19. Craig also set a personal best in the 3,000 meters with an 8:38 run.
Those times qualified him for the New Balance Nationals Indoor at the New Balance Track and Field Center at The Armory in New York City in the mile, 2-mile and 5K events. The dates for the meet were March 13-15, the day Governor Baker ordered all Massachusetts schools closed. All extracurricular activities including sports were also suspended and the novel coronavirus outbreak became a much more significant issue in the United States.
Craig learned on March 12, the day before, that he would not get his chance to compete on the national stage. “It would have been my first time in New York City,” he said. “It was too bad. I was excited for it.”
With students remaining at home into May, the 2020 MIAA spring sports season hangs in the balance. Craig was hoping to compete with his ORR teammates again after running his own schedule of solo events in the winter. He doesn’t expect there will be a 2020 outdoor spring track season, but he still has something to train for.
“I have resorted to a Plan B, where there (are) a few local meets that Battle Road Track Club puts on and they’re pretty competitive. They’re up at Bentley College (in Waltham),” Craig said. “They’re called the Twilight series, and those haven’t been canceled yet. There (are) four meets and they’re all fast and they have the mile, 2 mile and 5K so I’d be able to race some of those if they’re not canceled.
“Some of the earlier ones might get canceled, but I think they have one in early June, which hopefully isn’t canceled. That’s definitely an option to be able to race. Or, if I can’t race, I’m just doing a base-training phase from now until the end of summer getting ready to cross country.”
As for his training, Craig is still going outside. He’s keeping his distance, which has been a recurring message from the experts dealing with the novel coronavirus outbreak. But he won’t stop working.
“I’m just having to adapt,” he said. “I’d say I actually have more time for running and focusing on training right now than I normally do, which is good. The classes, they’re still giving us work, but it’s not nearly as rigorous as it would be if we were actually in school so it leaves a lot of open time. And I’m just upping my mileage… and getting my endurance back. So it’s going pretty well.”
Sports Roundup
By Nick Friar