Ben True Decides on Pro Running

FasterSkierJanuary 13, 2009

The Portland Press Herald recently ran this interesting article on Ben True.  True represented the US at the U23 Ski Championships last year.

The decision Ben True knew he eventually would have to make, the decision he had pondered since he was a senior at Greely High in Cumberland five years ago, finally became clear during the most frustrating chapter of his athletic life.

Last winter, as a result of overtraining, True found himself fatigued and unfocused, thinking he should do more but requiring rest above all else. His happiest moments came when, after lacing up his running shoes, he would plod along the pavement for a quarter of an hour, covering maybe a mile.

This from a three-sport All-American and the only Dartmouth College runner ever to break 4 minutes in the mile.

“For a long time that was the only athletic thing I could do,” True said. “It was the highlight of my day.”

True spoke by phone from Hanover, N.H., where he has embarked upon his final semester of college. He will ski for Dartmouth’s Nordic team this winter, receive his diploma in March (he’s an art history major with an emphasis on architecture) and attempt to make a living as a professional runner.

A year ago he had taken a long break from school to train exclusively for skiing. It was not wanting to decide between the two sports that led him to Dartmouth in the first place. Had he wanted to run exclusively in college, he would have enrolled at Stanford.

Read the full article:

True enough, it was enough for True

Source: Portland Press Herald

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