I played all sorts of sports growing up. I can remember when I played softball I would love base running (arguably my favorite part of the sport to this day) and I would sprint down the first base line as fast as I could, round the base and head to second (even if my coach tried to hold me up). I was always safe. I remember one day I had a softball coach ask me, “wow you’re fast, have you ever considered doing track in high school?” With no hesitation, my response was “no, way! I don’t want to have to run every day after school.” Eventually the choice not to try track in high school would become a regret I can’t shake.
In college, I played volleyball in the fall season and then I would cheerlead in the winter season. I cheered for my first few years at McDaniel but then one day during the beginning of a cheerleading season, during tryouts, the track team was sharing practice space with us in the gym. I walked over and asked the coach what I had to be able to do to be on the track team. One of the most interesting coaches I’ve ever met, Coach Estes, asked me to sprint some short distance that he marked. I sprinted. He said, “When can you start?” and told me the practice times. (Adios, cheerleading. Whoops).
I was never the fastest on the team, but I did beat some records of previous McDaniel athletes, and I did pretty well at meets. It felt great to be trying something new and it was a new type of sport for me. I was always used to team sports, and while this was a team, running is much more of an individual sport. It involves learning to motivate yourself in a whole new way and learning to push yourself because the outcome of a race depends solely on you. It isn’t a team effort and nobody is going to pick up your slack. In a race you get one chance to do your best. You give your personal best for your own personal record. All sports have a mental aspect, but I would say running was my first real test of my mental strength
I was a senior when I started, and my track career ended before it could really begin. Something Coach Estes said will always resonate with me and make me wonder. He said something like “if you’re doing this well without any experience, just imagine how good you’d be if you had started in high school”. I know he was disappointed in me when I had to cut back on practices to attend my internship in D.C., and as busy as most senior years are, my last meet came quickly and I graduated with just a few meet experiences where I ran mostly 50m, 55m, 60m, and 200m sprints.
Fast forward a few years, and I had started my full-time job post graduation, and running (and volleyball and all sports for that matter), seized to exist in my life. My most athletic experiences were watching the Ravens and Orioles play in Baltimore. Once I finally got situated in my developing career, I finally started running occasionally, and playing competitive co-ed volleyball and softball after work. After dabbling back into some running here and there, I decided I wanted to try a 5k and see how I would do with distance running (since there aren’t many adult sprinting competitions that I know of). My Aunt Ginny was battling breast cancer, and this was the inspiration that pushed me to sign up for Susan G. Komen’s Race for the Cure 5k in Hunt Valley, MD. I trained a bit and did way better than I thought I would. I ran the entire thing and felt great at the end. But I needed more. Next, I ran the Color Run at the National Harbor in D.C. with my sister and best friend. (I highly suggest this type of run to new runners as well as any and all other levels of runners. It was so exciting that you will enjoy it no matter what!) After that, I knew I wanted a bigger goal. I ran the Baltimore Half Marathon in October of 2013.
I thought for sure, that after I conquered the Half, I would be done and I would just go back to only running when I was late (or while base running at softball). But, it has officially sunk in. I am a runner. I want to keep running. I want to run more. I want to run further. I want to run faster. Not only is running healthy for me and a way I can continue my athleticism into my adulthood, it is something I can do for myself, by myself (or with my awesome boyfriend who does my long runs with me), and the only competition is me.
I started here. But there is so much more running to be done!