Why they bother actually running the race

When I was a child, I played various sports. As a young child, one competes with others. One competes with oneself. One tries, and tries to get better, to better oneself, and, to be better than others too. One enjoys improving and the joy of being while doing something extremely well.

At a certain point when one competes, one might seek the glory which comes from being recognized as being very good at something. At that point, perhaps the pure enjoyment of the sport can still remain. But, at the very least, something is added to the ‘pure enjoyment’ which, it might be said, makes it a bit less pure….and, something somewhat different.
I watched an Olympic race in the women’s hurdles. The heavy favorite in the race (named Lolo Jones) was leading by a great deal with only 2 hurdles to go. Although she almost never hits hurdles - the announcer added, she graced the 2nd to last one, going from 1st place to 7th in less than 20 meters. What an unhappy coincidence? for her that, of all the times to hit a hurdle, it should be at just this moment.
20 meters separated her from an Olympic gold medal… 20 years of training, down the drain. She looked absolutely devastated afterwards. How long and how often did she imagine winning this race? How important it must have been to her. Did she fantasize having attained that medal with such a big lead (with only 2 hurdles to go) before she actually had attained it? Was this prize so seductive that once it was virtually within her grasp she could not even concentrate long enough to finish the race? Did it mean too much to her? That was my thought and of course only an interpretation of what I saw.

http://www.nbcolympics.com/trackandfield/photos/galleryid=236307.html