Milesplit is an archive of information that organizes vast amounts of data into a simple website. What was a small passion project turned into a nationally recognized website that revolutionized the way high school track athletes view stats. Since then, Milesplit has become the largest U.S. database for high school running and an official method for finding high school track and field and cross-country data for all 50 states.
Today, the website has a neutral, expressionless interface of mostly white, red, and blue. When you first click on the website, you are faced with a variety of articles you can scroll through, often changing weekly. In the corner of the website, a guide of different functions is presented depending on what you’re looking for: race results, rankings, a calendar, athletes, teams, etc. If you’re looking for any of the above, Milesplit probably has it somewhere on its website.
People usually join track thinking of it as their secondary athletic activity, or the sport that will “help them with their main one.” In my case (and others as well), it has surprisingly become the sport I put the most effort into. Upon first joining the sport, it’s hard not to discover Milesplit in the process. The website is a regular essential to organizing and retrieving any necessary details before you race, like your lane and heat number. Over time, you check it for fun more often, and then whenever you have free time–or don’t have free time. What was just a statistical website became a constant refreshing cycle of “Who am I competing against?” or “Where am I ranked?”
It seems trivial to worry about a single line of text, and in any other case, it probably is. We’ve been taught since our childhood that opinions and labels don’t have to define us; it’s healthier to detach ourselves from things that belittle us down to a couple of numbers or words. The incessant act of being preoccupied with stats we associate so closely with our character prompts bad habits, and being left unattended can turn disastrous.
That once innocent curiosity turns into obsession [defined as a persistent, unwanted preoccupation that causes distress] and you begin to place self-worth in the hands of comparison. It makes you forget all the other variables that led up to it: workouts, effort, injuries, mental state, etc. The objectivity of Milesplit does not leave room for empathy, so we feel the results place the final verdict. Months of effort are condensed into one page on a bland website with no regard for how much you exert yourself. As the line between outcome and value begins to blur, self-blame is tossed around like an easy-fix. You perceive yourself as how you perform, and to an extent, you are numbed by the compulsive checking.
The burden of being tied to numbers still does not stop me from continuously checking whenever I can. As unhealthy as it may be, I still find being reduced to numbers more satisfying. Numbers are clean, definitive, and feel earned. Nothing is erased, nor is it unfair from one person to the next. Track meet officials don’t get paid enough to purposely favor one team or person over another. The starting gun goes off, and you run. Having that record under your belt, on display for anyone to see, is earned the same way as the 1.1 million other high school athletes in track and field and cross country. In a world surrounded by misinformation, there is finally clarity–a light at the end of the tunnel. Conscious validation is a normal human craving; we actively seek out acceptance within our communities, and eventually within ourselves. By directly staring at those times, you are looking right back at your own contingent self-worth: the ever-fluctuating external dependency on feedback. There isn’t obscurity; you don’t have to dig deeper to find it. The simplicity of finding a self-defining piece of you makes your place of growth a place of solace.
Society measures worth through tangible progress and undeniable achievements. We are drawn to reliable outcomes because ambiguity is unsettling; leaving “loose ends” forces us into a cycle of second-guessing that we instinctively despise. At its core, MileSplit serves as a remedy for this lifelong struggle with uncertainty.
I give Milesplit five stars.