Memorable Mile

Not exactly Roger Bannister, but pretty good for a sort of chubby baseball catcher, I always figured.

By Steve Lundeberg, Lebanon Express

Part of what being an OSU employee means is the right to purchase a membership to Dixon Recreation Center.

When I started at OSU the first time, as a student in 1981, Dixon had just opened. Being a gym rat, I thought it was fantastic -- among other things it had three basketball courts, a weight room and a "combative" sports room where friends and I would box each other.

Thirty-three years later, the place is probably five times as big as it used to be and now has six basketball courts, numerous workout areas, climbing walls and a couple of swimming pools. I know all of this because on Friday I took a guided tour; I wanted someone to show me around since its current size can be kind of intimidating if you don't know where you're going.

Walking the quarter mile from my home base, Austin Hall, to Dixon, it occurred to me that a campus landmark from my days as a student was no longer there: the old five-laps-to-a-Mile cinder track that had been across the street from Dixon. In its place is the new Student Legacy Park, which is a few acres of FieldTurf sports fields ringed by a rubber running track.

The new setup is much nicer, to be sure, but I felt a twinge of sadness over realizing the old track was gone.

Why?

Because when I was college freshman, it was the site of one of my more improbable athletic accomplishments: I nearly broke 6 minutes in the Mile.

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