Not so slow and steady wins the race
by Pete Cunningham
*As printed November 14, 2007 in The Homer Index 

Famous English novelist Aldous Huxley once wrote, “Too much consistency is as bad for the mind as it is for the body.” It’s obvious that Mr. Huxley never met Rebecca Barton.

Consistent is the best way to describe Barton’s cross country career, and a healthy mind, body and soul are the best way to describe the Homer senior. She recently capped off a phenomenal high school run with a 47th place finish at the MHSAA state finals at Michigan International Speedway, 17 places away from All-State honors. Although Barton had earned the distinction with a 24th place finish as a freshman, she was far from disappointed in her performance, rather, she was proud of ability to stay at a consistently high level throughout her four years.

“I was pretty happy with it,” Barton said of her final high school race. “It’s not my fastest time, but it was consistent with what I’ve been doing all year. It was a nice way to kind of finish off everything.”

Barton made it to the state finals three times - missing only her junior year due to injury. The injury, she said, motivated her for her final season.

“I wanted to do well and make sure I was in shape earlier in the season and practice more in the off-season to keep myself from another injury,” Barton explained. Her approach, however, was a bit unorthodox.

“I ran pretty much only during cross country, and other people trained all year long. For me, it was more of a fun thing that I liked to do,” explained Barton, who is active in cross country skiing and canoe racing as well.

“The trail races are fun for me, instead of like a 5K on a paved road on a Saturday.” To describe running 3.1 miles as fun, and enduring endless stretches of nothingness as enjoyable is nothing short of masochistic. Barton admitted that her mindset for the races was not one typical of someone partaking in a leisurely activity

“Before a race, I tell myself I can take anything for 20 minutes, eventually it will be over, but that was more just to get rid of the nerves.

“It really is fun though. When you’re done, you feel a lot better and you’re happy you did it. It’s just that in the middle of it you’re wondering, ‘why am I doing this?’ ”

In a town and state where the name Barton is synonymous with athletic achievement (Rebecca’s uncle, Greg Barton, was an Olympic gold medalist kayaker, her father Bruce competed in the 1976 games and her mother missed the Olympics by a mere three hundredths of a second) Rebecca never let being part of Homer’s “royal family” become a burden.

“When I was all-state, the announcer asked if I was related to Greg, then announced it over the loud speaker to everyone,” said a blushing Rebecca, indicative of her admirable humility. “A lot of people know of our family and I get that a lot. There’s some expectation, but I don’t take it as a negative thing. It’s kind of neat I guess. I’ve always had it, so I don’t really know what it would be like without it.”

Rebecca said her career highlight came in her freshman year - when she ran her best time to win the conference championship - and that the she never looked at her performances since as shortcomings, but reflections of an improving field.

“Competition-wise, some of the other girls got a lot better and I just kind of stayed about the same,” reflected Barton. “People trained all year long, and I guess I could have improved more if I did that. But for me, I just liked to be out there.

She credits her satisfaction with her accomplishments as much to coach Rebecca Willis as her own drive to succeed.

“She wanted us to be happy with what we did and wanted to help us accomplish our goals,” explained Barton. “Not everyone can win. It was nice to be able to do it because I loved to do it.”