The Hernando junior put in 600 miles of training this summer to make this a great season, but a brief hospital stay slows his start.
By JOHN SCHWARB
Published September 16, 2003
BROOKSVILLE - Bret Chatman established himself a year ago as an up-and-coming runner, and this summer the Hernando junior put in mileage worthy of a team's No. 1.
Yet he is almost starting from scratch as the 2003 season gets into full swing.
While other teams were building up miles and preparing for the start of meets earlier this month, Chatman was in a hospital bed with an unknown ailment. Doctors thought appendicitis, Crohn's disease, maybe even tuberculosis had stricken the 16-year-old.
In the end, it was only a virus. But three days in the hospital made for quite the inauspicious start to what was supposed to be - and still might be - a big season.
"Saturday (Sept. 6) I ran a half-mile, it felt like my knees were going to explode," Chatman said. "I still have aches and pains. I'm not that tired anymore, it's mostly just pains right now."
Now, nearly two weeks removed from his hospital visit, Chatman is slowly rebuilding stamina and entertaining the same thoughts he had in May, before a 600-mile odyssey began.
"I feel pretty confident that I can get back to where I was and hopefully progress more," Chatman said.
By the end of last season, Chatman was a solid third- or fourth-place runner on a loaded Leopards team that won conference and district titles. At the state meet he finished 80th overall in 17 minutes, 58 seconds, fourth on the team and one second behind Zak Lukas.
He was named to the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference team, the 10th best runner in Citrus and Hernando counties, a satisfying accomplishment that won him a ski trip from his parents (not taken yet) and filled him with the energy to put in a grueling summer of training.
Running an average of 6 miles a day for 100 days from May 19 to Aug. 26, Chatman armed himself to try to surpass senior teammates Michael Laird and Logan Emerson, the team's top two finishers at state last year.
Bret Chatman has high expectations of himself, though those are different than the expectations from his father, Hernando coach and accomplished runner Ernie Chatman.
"It's hard to compare because there's so many people that have run 800 and 1,000 (summer) miles for Hernando, and my dad looks at that," Bret Chatman said. "He's always comparing with other people, it's kind of tough on me."
Even tougher when coming back from a bizarre layoff.
"I haven't missed a day in 12 years, so I don't know what that feels like," Ernie Chatman said.
- John Schwarb can be reached at 800 333-7505, ext. 1407. Send e-mail to schwarb@sptimes.com[Last modified September 16, 2003, 03:59:55]
