Trying To Keep Up In The 100’s Club

There was an extracurricular activity in my primary school back in Botswana that went by the name of ‘100’s Club’. It involved students running laps around the school field at 7 a.m.

The club lasted 30 minutes and was a good way for students to be awake before classes would start.

The teacher who supervised us would sharpie a dot on our wrists each time we’d complete a 400 metre lap.

In my prime I’d usually get 10 dots per club session (without cheating).

There were times where students had sharpies of their own in which case I ran 14 laps that day.

The goal was to tally up the dots up until you reached a 100 (hence the name). Once completed, you’d get a badge to put on the pants of your sports uniform.

There were 9 badges for 900 laps and this author had done 400 at the time.

Gareth was a grade or two below me and had already acquired all 9. He was a slow jogger but would always out lap everyone in the club (sometimes running 17 laps in just 30 minutes).

There were times where I’d even underestimate Gareth by trying to overtake him from sprinting quicker. Soon enough I’d get tired and watch him pass me by at the same pace as before without having to speed up or slow down.

As the club went on, my goals shifted from trying to overtake Gareth, to trying to keep up with him. Pretty soon I came to understand it was all about the pacing:

Not trying too much, no less, jogging slow and making progress.

It became easier to acquire badges after that. Every morning I’d be behind him just trying to keep the same distance between us throughout every lap.

All I remember from the club was me (and a bunch of others) trying to keep up with Gareth.

And when we couldn’t, the sharpies would.