Sometimes I wonder why I am running. I run for and away from a lot of things in my life, and I am also in the sport of cross-country running. Life is like a giant race to me. I suppose that somehow being involved in this sport I am learning how to pace myself for it. Not only am I learning how to pace myself in my actual race, but I am also learning how to pace my life. Right now, pacing seems to be the most important thing. People have many preparations in the pursuit of pacing themselves. There are, at least for me, steps that lead up to being capable of getting on the right pace at the right time. In a race, I typically go about it like this: If I have not been on the race course before then I always preview the course. I walk the course