Half of my life has been consumed by running. 4th-6th grade I played Rec soccer because I grew up watching my brothers play on Flyers/HS & wanted to try it out myself. It was NOT my thing! My best move was the handstands I would do in the backfield when they'd put me at defender. Midfield was my best position, because it involved a lot of running, which I slowly realized I loved.
I decided to give cross-country a try when the middle school coaches came in to my 5th grade class trying to recruit. My brother, Aaron, had done it, and since I had a tendency to do what my brothers did, I figured I'd give it a try. I ended up loving it and did pretty well for myself in 6th grade. If my memory serves me correctly, I was 7th overall and the best 6th grader on the team. I got my first taste of the Lavern Gibson Championship Course at our county meet (3k) running a 13:43 (going off memory here...) and getting 5th in the 6th grade race.
Track wasn't offered for 6th graders, so I tried my hand at tennis. It turned out hand-eye coordination didn't happen to be my thing. Thankfully the next year I was able to go out for the track team. My coach, Mr. Chiado, wasn't really sure event-wise where to put me. One day at practice, he had myself and Lizz Seigel do an 800m time trial. If my memory serves me correctly, I went about 2:56, and Chiado was thrilled. That's what I was going to run for our first meet. Throughout the season I continued to drop time and at our meet at Otter Creek, I ran against a girl who would be my rival for the next 5 years and then become my teammate, Kayla Alexander. She got a huge lead on me and then my last 100m was insane and I beat her by a step at the line. Mrs. Newton got a picture of that finish, and I can't remember if I ever told Kayla this... but that picture was on my locker for the next year + as motivation. The big county meet came up at Terre Haute North and I remember not wanting to let that same situation happen again so I took off in the beginning like crazy. At the 600m mark, I remember looking behind me because there was literally no one around me. Chiado yelled at me for looking behind and to just finish the race. 2:38.
So this was my introduction to the 800m, forever my niche. Most people start out in an event and then find out they're better at something else. A lot of the times, they'll move up in distance. I, however, have forever been an 800m runner. I tried the 400, the mile, 1500 (college), steeple (college), but have always gone back to the 8.
Well that's it for now. Next up: 8th grade :)& remember, "if God brings you to it, He'll bring you through it."
No comments:
Post a Comment