Jared French, the senior captain of the Otterbein men's cross-country team, continues his warm up for the one-mile race at the OAC Indoor Track and Field Championships on Mar. 8.
He strips off a tight, long-sleeve black T-shirt. He replaces it with a red and white Otterbein jersey and, iPod in hand, puts the black shirt back on.
He stretches and strides to keep his legs loose.
When the race finally begins, about five hours late due to snow, French starts in second place.
He stays there for first half, but around this time, a blonde runner shoots to the front. French falls back to third and stays there. Despite leaning forward across the finish line, he gets edged out at the end of the race.
Keeping in mind that he won the 3000-meter run the night before, third place in the early March meet is OK. He won 24 overall points for his team after placing second in the 1000-meter run later that night.
Not bad, especially considering that just a few years ago doctors told him he would never run again.
Partway through his freshman year, near the end of the track season, French was outside at his parents' house in Marengo. Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain in his left knee.
He went to the hospital, where doctors told him nothing was broken, but scheduled an MRI just to be safe.
He fought through the pain, and ran that year's conference meet. He went back for the medical procedure, expecting a minor setback.
The MRI revealed otherwise, showing major cartilage damage. "It was just shredded," French said.
The cartilage had folded underneath his kneecap. The doctor said it had probably happened three or four years before.
Doctors tried to repair his knee surgically, but after four weeks of physical therapy and one day of running, French realized something was still wrong. He went back to his doctors, who decided to remove the cartilage completely.
"They told me [my] running career was over," said French.
But, during the surgery, they found that some of the cartilage had curiously healed a little, so they left it there.
They told French, who had gone into the hospital trying to cope with the possible end to his running career, that he should be able to start running again soon.
But, after one day of practice, he felt the same pain in his other knee. He went through the same procedure with doctors removing most of the cartilage in his right knee. He was diagnosed with compartmental medial meniscus disease, a degenerative hereditary knee condition. His grandfather has had both his knees replaced.
Now, French says his knees only hurt while walking at the end of a long week. He defines a long week as containing 89 miles of running. Otherwise, he just works through the pain.
"That is a long week," he repeats with a laugh.
In a sense, every week is a long week for him. Besides cross-country and full-time studies, French, a broadcasting major, is a full-time disc jockey at Radio U.
Radio U is a Christian rock radio station based in Westerville, with repeating towers throughout central Ohio and a couple in California, too.
French has an airshift every night from 6-11. He also hosts a top request countdown show on TVU, which broadcasts online and late Saturday night on GTN in Columbus.
"I love my job," said French. He plans on working at Radio U full-time after graduation.
A thick silver wedding band indicates more than just a busy professional life.
He and his wife, Michelle, have been married for about eight months and own a house in Westerville. Michelle is a senior at Mount Vernon Nazarene University and also waits tables at Carraba's on Polaris Parkway. With their busy schedules, they usually don't see each other until 11 at night.
"We usually just end up falling asleep," said French.
They are looking forward to graduating so things will be less hectic. Both will only work 30-40 hours a week, once out of college.
Although doctors have told French not to take another step after college, he still plans on training all summer to run the Columbus Marathon in October.
He plans to qualify for the Boston Marathon, if only to take in the experience, before retiring for good.
"That would be icing on the cake," he said.
Even though he expects to have his knees replaced when he is fifty, he has no regrets.
"It was worth it. It's been a good four years," he said. t&c;
