That One Time I Was A College Athlete

Do you remember that?
Did you know that?
Its true.
But I feel the need to start from the beginning.

When I started sports I was real young, one favorite teams I remember playing on was my t-ball team.  I'm pretty sure we were ballin, and I don't remember there being many other girls on the team.  Was I good a t-ball? Heck no. Was I good at running from base to base? You better believe it.  Coach Temple had told me that I was fast, and told my mom to make me keep it up because he didn't want me to lose that speed.  I don't think I knew how fast I was at the time, sprinting just came natural to me.  I use to race strangers in parks, and bet boys money at my brothers games that I could beat them in a race - I always did.

Rec soccer was when I realized I had something other people didn't.  I smoked the boys at sprinting drills, I loved getting break aways, I just loved running with the ball at my feet.  When I reached high school it came time to decide if I would try out for the soccer team or not.  In all honesty, I didn't think I was good enough. The thought of playing with the girls who were on region 3 teams and had won multiple state championships scared me to death.  Instead, I retreated to the track.  Our first practice lasted all of 30 minutes because our coach was sick.  I was just the timid, skinny, white girl who had no idea what she was doing. A few practices in I realized I just how I compared to all the other girls, and it was pretty dang good. I got a spot on both the 4x1 and 4x2 relay team.  I always placed in the top of the girls 100m race and our 4x2 team literally smoked everyone.  We made it to regionals and that was my first big race, our 4x2 placed fourth which meant we made it to states! We were the first sprinting relay from Lake Norman High School to ever make it that far.. so I can say i've made history. (We were also composed of 3 white freshman). We practiced our handoffs all week long, drove the hour and a half to Greensboro A&T field, sat around all day, warmed up, walked our lane, and finally it was our turn to run. Katie was the first leg and after she handed the baton off to me I could barely breath.  I caught my rhythm and I could hear the girl in the lane beside me literally breathing in my ear. To this day I still don't know what happened, I don't know if anyone does.  But before I knew it my baton was on the ground, somehow mid-step I had managed to let go of it.  For you non track people, the second the baton hits the ground your team is disqualified.  It rolled away with the wind and I chased it across the track, finished my leg, walked off the track and cried my eyes out.  Single handily one of the worst moments i've ever had.

Walking To The Starting Line At States

My sophomore year has a happier story.  Both of our relays once again made it to regionals, our 4x2 missed state by one tenth of a second.  The team who beat us was the same team we had beat the year before by that exact margin. Way to go Kings Mountain.  The regional meet this year just happened to be at Mooresville High School.  Our rival school across the town.  To this day I still have problems driving past that track.  I get to filled with nerves, whether or not i'm actually going to a race.  

Vanilla Flash - Regionals '09.

I started my junior season strong and then slowly went down hill. After my first few practices I was having a lot of problems with the arch in my left foot.  I went to the doctor and I was told I Plantar Fasciitis which pretty much meant my arch was inflamed and I wasn't allowed to run.  On top this we had a brand new coach who had no idea who I was.  When I told him about my injury I honestly think he thought I was making up an excuse to get out of running.  I sat on the bleachers during practices and just watched as the relay teams were formed, I watched my chances slip away.  After I was healed and back out on the track my times SUCKED.  I figured it was because I was coming off an injury and that I would have to get my speed back, but I never did.  One day I went to get blood work done and when the results came back I was informed that "I was recovering from mono."  I now had an explanation for sleeping through every class, seminary, and sucky times.  For the first time ever I was on the B-relay teams.  I hated it, I was so embarrassed.  I was running slower than girls I had beat for the past two years.  It wasn't until our very last regular season meet that I talked my way onto the 4x1 A-team and SMOKED my leg.  That was the first time Coach Carter actually saw my speed.  We had made it to regionals, again.  But our relay ended up folding and we didn't attend.

This is the only picture I have from my junior season.

My senior season is/was hands down my favorite and best season.  I had missed states for indoor by a few tenths of a second and I decided then that that wouldn't happen to my outdoor season.  I put everything into practices and even more into my races.  Our relay started off really rough, mostly because me and another girl absolutely hated each other. Once we decided to actually put our differences aside, for the sake of our relay, the four of us became a small family.  We suffered through the heat and the torture Coach Carter inflicted upon us. As a relay we stayed together through the 27 straight stadium runs, 200 repeats, ladder workouts, and those horrible 800s that had us transitioning from jogging and sprinting.  But our hard work always showed in meets, we were the fastest 4x1 and 4x2 in the country, and 3rd in the conference.  We worked out butts off to make it to regionals our last year when injuries started to finally take there toll. Kiara dislocated her elbow at her cheer practice and she was out, the rest of us had shin splints to the point of barely being able to walk.  (I'm not even joking.  Every time I finished a set I collapsed, I couldn't put any weight on my legs, much less have them take the pounding of slowing down.  Just barely touching my shins made me tear up, so you can imagine how loud I screamed/cried/whaled when I got them rubbed out).  Point being, the relay that had made it to regionals wasn't actually the team that would get to run at regionals. We put in a replacement and went on our way.  Our 4x2 placed 8th while our 4x1 placed 6th.  I had shaved 5 seconds off my 200 times from the time I started track to my last year, and I had shaved almost 2 seconds off my 100.  My favorite memories from high school belonged on that track, and belonged to my relay teams. 

After my last year I wasn't ready to let go.  Once I had decided what college I would be going too I then contacted the coaches of the track team.  Coach Houle at Utah Valley said he would be more than willing to have me.  He set me up an account so I could see summer workouts and keep up with the team.  I worked out on my high school track by myself at night and snuck into the YMCA pool in the morning to do swimming workouts.  I went to Utah and sat through many days of meetings and awkward introductions between the other freshman athletes.  These girls soon became my family, we spent everyday together.  And there is something about making it through the toughest workout ever that bonds people together.  About 3-4 weeks in my body was falling apart.  I couldn't bend my knees with out wanting to cry, and every time I hit the track during a run it felt like someone had a knife underneath my kneecap and was pushing it outward.   I started to see the trainers everyday after practice until they told me I had patella tendinitis in both knees, it was just a lot worse in my right one.  I got a brace for it and went back on the track, I lasted for almost two weeks before I was back with worse pain than before. They had me see the doctor and he told me that my VMO muscle in my quad isn't built up enough.  This means that when I run my knee cap gets pulled to the outside of my leg since it isn't being supported from the top.  When it moves so does my tendons and ligaments, and when it moves back all those things are stuck underneath it.  (Hence the feeling of something being underneath my kneecap).  I was now in the trainers room before and after practice.  They had me doing exercises before, exercises after, and then treatments.  I got a knee brace that was made to hold my kneecap down so it wouldn't move.  That worked for a while! I was back on the track and feeling better.  The brace added an unusual amount of pressure on my hamstring and after a while my leg would completely lock and knot up after a workout, getting those rubbed out was about as painful as getting my shins rubbed. Again, the brace stopped working and I was in more pain than ever.  One workout I just broke down and cried after a set.  The coaches sent me to the trainers where I once again cried in front of a room full of people.  Nothing was working.  I rode the bike and swam instead of running and they told me they didn't know when I would be back on the track, no one knew what was wrong with my knee.  It had come to the point where they were going to send me to a physical therapist everyday instead of the training room.  This meant I had no chance of seeing the track, I wouldn't even be near it.  I was sitting in a room being worked on everyday instead of being out and getting a job to help pay for out of state tuition and rent.  I talked to my mom and she told me she was my biggest fan and that she would support whatever I choose.  I talked to Dorian and he told me he was proud of what I had done and that he would be there for me.  I went into my coaches office after weights one morning and told him I couldn't do it anymore.  I appreciated all the time he has taken with me, and that he gave me the chance to be a part of this team but I needed a break.  I wasn't running, I wasn't on scholarship, I needed a job.  He told me that when I got a job to call him and if I wanted to come back he would work out practices for me so I could do both.  He told me he knows how devastating injuries can be, but he also knows how hard it is to come back after taking a break.  I owe a lot to Coach Smith, being on that team taught me a lot about myself and the things I can accomplish.  I cried in his office and I cried in the locker room when I told the other girls.  That was my team and my family, they were all I knew since I had gotten to Utah.  I still love them, and everything they have done for me. 

 I may not be on the team anymore, but that doesn't mean I didn't keep up with what was going on.  I still knew the workouts, I knew how people placed at meets, I knew how they finished in conference.  I may not be able to wear the jersey anymore, but they are still my teammates.

Take Your Love Somewhere Else

On my iPod I have a bunch of little 'notes' saved about things I want to blog about.
Some no longer make sense to me because I wrote them using key words and now I don't remember what i'm referring to with my key words.  Annoying, Right? I know.  But for now I will hit the ones I remember.

1.  The first Sunday of the Spring semester brought a lot of thoughts. I sat with Adriana in Sacrament like I have for the past year. But the difference was we weren't sitting with Katelyn, Coralee, or Jenna.  (I have a whole post dedicated to how obsessed I am with them, and where they are now).  Instead we sat with Amanda, one of our new roommates.  It was the WEIRDEST feeling.  Since everyone pretty much leaves Provo in the summer we meet with three other wards for the first hour, I couldn't help but think about how my first Sunday of Fall felt.
*First: I tried to look all cute. Ya know? You gotta make good first impressions.  I wore a new pencil skirt, this cheetah shirt I bought from TJ Maxx sometime in High School and I even tried to curl my hair.  For some reason, my hair wouldn't curl, but I ran out of time to actually do anything with it.  While walking down the steps to find out seats I hear a ripping sound.  My skirt had pretty much slit all the way up the back.  All I wanted was to look good that first Sunday and there I was, this little 17 year old, with a poor excuse of curled hair and a skirt with a new slit that could have pretty much got me kicked out of the state of Utah.
* Second: Our first apartment crush. That cute boy that passed us the bread and water became out new fascination for the next 12 hours.  (Minus Adriana, she swears she didn't think he was attractive.)  I'm pretty sure Katelyn called dibs, so we had to respect it. Too bad that night at game night we all thought he was more annoying than good lookin, and then Katelyn runs off and gets married.
*Third: How about that boy that I adopted as my big brother while I had no family out here.  Christian use to play guitar for our apartment all the time, we were all pretty much BFFS. (No seriously, check this one) We all went to the rope swings, dancing, to outdoor movie nights, not to mention all those times we just say and listened to him and Kolby play for us.  I'm telling you, best friends.  These days, we're not as tight with him.  But that hasn't stopped any of us from still loving him, cause Christians just great no matter what.

2. I'm Employed! Again! Yes, two jobs.  Hello workin world, how ya doin?  I'm a nanny three times a week and every other day/night you can find me scoopin ice cream at Baskin Robbins.
* I had applied to SO MANY nannying jobs.  My whole plan is to save enough money this summer to pay my fall/winter rent next year all by myself.  I had a few interviews but nothing even went through, or the family was too far away and it wasn't worth the gas.  One Wednesday I applied to a job randomly and got a call with in the next five minutes.  "Hey, you just answered my ad a few minutes ago, i'm doing interviews today and something tells me you'll be a good match! Can you come in at 3:30? I can fit you in between two other interviews!" I was stunned.  Heck yeah. So I went in, sat down on the couch and tried to explain why i'd be good at watching her children.  I told her about Brad and how much I helped raise him when both my parents went back to work, I know how to clean a house...blah blah blah.  I got a message that night asking if I could come in for a second interview that Saturday. Well duh.  I wake up the next morning and it turns out they didn't want me to come in anymore, they felt so good about it they just straight offered me the job! Great right!? So great! They live in Orem so it literally takes me 7 minutes to get there.  I watch 3 little girls, all under the age of five.  And it seems that the tireder I get, the more wild and energy they have.  Its crazy, and will take some getting use to, but I love it.
* Now to Baskin Robbins.  I really love my job, and the people I work with. Everything is so laid back and its just such an easy atmosphere. I love helping families more than single people.  We have a lot of parents who come in, by themselves, followed by four children.  When it comes to those children scoops, I stick more to the safe side.  But when I serve the parents you BEST BELIEVE I add on a little extra.  They are so patient with the kids, and by the time it becomes there turn I just want them to get what they're payin for, ya know? Also, I don't remember getting ice cream all that often, but i'm sure when I did it probably made my day.  So props to those parents, for you I will scoop big.
* People I won't scoop big for are you obnoxious, annoying couples who can't let go of each other for two seconds to choose your own ice cream.  I don't mind giving out samples, it is my job after all.  But I dont get paid to watch you and your lover share the same sample spoon while looking longingly into each others eyes discussing whether or not the ratio of peanut butter to chocolate is what you've been craving.  Puke, but really, they make me want to puke...in their ice cream.  How about the couple that came in and asked me what flavors we had. I was waiting for him to laugh and say he was joking, he wasnt.  I told him we didn't have a list but all 42 flavors are displayed on the cases above the ice cream they want.  He still wanted me to name them.  "The first case is all our chocolates, we have a lot of different kinds.  The middle case is more of your candy bars and nutty ice cream.  We have snickers, reeses, pralines and cream, that kinda thing.  The last case is more of your fruity flavors and sherbets." The girlfriend draws a blank stare.  "ummmm, do you have chocolate?" By this point i'm smiling through my teeth.  ARE YOU JOKING!? Out of 42 flavors do you really think we don't have chocolate? Why don't you walk down to the case and look at all 14 different kinds of chocolate before you ask that. "Yes, we have chocolate.  Do you want a single scoop, or double?" Another blank stare, "ummm, I don't know." She then proceeds to twirl her greasy hair and look at her boyfriend. I try again, "Do you want one scoop of ice cream, or two?" She wants one, in a cup.  But only after more deliberation and explanations about the different kinds of cones we have, and of course, more blank stares.
I'm done.  I really do love my job. I don't mind if someone tries 10 different flavors, ice cream is important! But don't try 10 different flavors with a critical analysis of each one in between.  You like it or you dont, make up your mind and move on.
Okay, i'm really done.

My Mom > Your Mom

In honor of mothers day I would just like to make a shout out to all the women who have helped mold me into who I am today.
So here we go, lets talk about the women in my life.

First I want to acknowledge two of the women who played a big part in my life throughout high school.
Mama Blihar, and Mrs. Rhonda.

Back story: The Blihars moved to North Carolina my 8th grade year.  Me and Rachel played soccer and volleyball together, and we were in the same line in PE class.  I would say we were friends at that time, but we never really hung out.  That was until one day when I got a random phone call from Rachel. She was inviting me to go on the boat with her the following weekend, I agreed.  (First, this is a little odd because I think i'm really bad at putting myself out there and making new friends, especially alone.)  Anyways, I went.  The second I walked through Rachels door I was met by her mom, "Lacey, i'm so glad you could come! Are you hungry?"  From that point on every time I walked through the door I was greeted and with in a few minutes the question was asked whether or not I was hungry.  Sometimes, if Mrs. Blihar knew I was coming she would already have a sandwich waiting on the table for me.  That is just one of the small things she did for me.  When I lived in the doll house she would always drive me home, and on those rides she would ask how my life was, and the cool thing was, she actually wanted to know! I can't even tell you how many times we would sit outside my house in her mini-van just talking about boys in my life, or lack there of.  If I ever needed a ride home from school, or a ride to exit 25, she was more than willing. If our water was cut off I knew I could go over and use her shower, and then have a meal waiting on me afterwards.  When me and Rachels friendship went off track for a while, she never treated me any differently, I still knew I could always come to her if I needed anything.  Before I left for college I went to say goodbye to her, she had already taken Rachel to ECU but we just sat in the kitchen, ate chips, and talked about what college would be like (and of course what meals she would cook for us when we were home on break).  Mrs. Blihar showed me unconditional love, and that just because you're a mom doesn't mean you still can't have fun.  She knew how to mix work with play and to never take anything to serious.  When what you love no longer becomes fun, its time to make a change with something.

My relationship with Mrs. Rhonda is different than my relationship with Mrs. Blihar.  I first met the Albrittons when they moved down from New York in the 6th grade.  Me and Dorian were at Lakeshore together and our little brothers played LYAA Football together. I started loving Mrs. Rhonda when I saw how much she loved Bradley.  (You love members of my family, chances are i'll love you back.)  Bradley has been part of Mrs. Rhondas daycare pretty much sense...birth. She is, hands down, Brads second mom. I have had countless times when I go to pick up Bradley and I end up in a 45 minute long conversation with her while Brad continues to run around the backyard.  Sometimes they start with easy questions like, "How is track going" while others got straight to the point like our "Why aren't you taking my son to Prom?" one, and sometimes they even ended with me tearing up at the fence post when talking about my family.  All of those conversations, simple or not, have played a major part on the relationship I now have with her.  She always let me know I was welcome in her home, and that she was there if my family needed anything.  Now, when I go over to see Dorian part of my time always belongs to me talking to Mrs. Rhonda about Brad, college, or other things/people that just can't be named on this blog.  If we're skyping or talking on the phone, there is most likely a point where I have a short conversation her. But the thing is, talking to Mrs. Rhonda isn't a struggle for me like it would be with other parents, its easy.  I enjoy it because she has taken the time to get to know me.  Throughout my seven years of knowing Dorian, I learned a lot from his Mom.  Whether it was how important respect is to any relationship, what Mrs. Rhonda says goes, or how things just need to be told how they are - there's a time to play and there's a time to get things done.  Mostly, I watched how she loved her family, and how she loved my own.

These women have influenced my life and my actions in many different ways, and I have the utmost respect and love for the both of them.  But the woman I have to thank for everything i've accomplished is my own mom.

_________________________________________________________________________

My Mom has always been, and always will be my number one fan. She has come to every soccer game, swim meet, or track meet that i've participated in.  She has drove the countless hours, and sat through many different crazy weather patterns just to watch me do what I love.  Like the soccer game that lasted 3 hours instead of the original 65 minutes because of the constant lightning strikes.  Or that one time I had an invitational at Chapel Hill for track, we woke up at 6am, she drove me the 4 hours it took to get there, watched me run for 8 seconds, and then drove me the 4 hours home.  At tournaments or meets she always saved enough money for me so I could get a t-shirt...whether or not I would wear it.  No matter how intense the meet or game was, no matter how nervous or upset I was at something, I could always pick her voice out of the crowd. She was the mom on my team who wrote down the names and numbers of all the girls and printed a copy for each mom so they would all know who to cheer for.  After games and meets she never scorned me if I did bad, she always had positive things to say.  There was a point when I ran for UVU that I didn't know if it was for me, I thought I was in over my head, and I just didn't enjoy it anymore.  I remember I wrote my mom a long email telling her how I felt about the situation.  I had never quit a sport before, I had always stuck it out, but I felt like I couldn't do it anymore.  She replied with, "Well hang in there...and you can always talk to me and be honest with me.  Just remember that I am always your #1 fan and i'm always on your side."  Her answer didn't tell me what to do, but it was exactly what I needed to hear.

She always sticks up for her kids, no matter the cost.  During one of our moves Lyndsi had an English paper due, but since our computer wasn't connected she wasn't able to print it out so it could be turned in.  When she explained this to her teacher she was told with out this paper she would fail the class and that its her fault she couldn't print her paper off.  My mom emailed and called this teacher and when she didn't reply my mom showed up at the school and scheduled her own 'meeting'.  This meeting ended with the teacher in tears and Lyndsi being able to turn her paper in with out it being marked down.   In high school there was a girl who attempted to make my life pretty terrible.  One night she appeared at our door, and when I told my mom who it was she made it clear that this girl was not welcome on our property, and that if she was going to start trouble she could march right down our driveway and get back in her friends car and never come back.  While living in Winslow Bay we had a neighbor who pretty much couldn't stand our family.  One day he made some rude/sarcastic/mean comment to Corey while he was playing in our backyard.  When my mom heard she, once again, let him know who was boss, and that no one messed with her kids.

There was a point in time when my mom went back to school to be a dental hygienist.  First, people are rarely accepted into the first time they apply, a lot of the time people apply multiple times before they are in.  But not my mom! She got in the first time she applied.  Throughout her entire schooling she raised a family of four children.  No matter how much she had to study at night she always made time to lay down with us until we fell asleep, she always read us stories, she always made sure she was our mom before she was student.  I have many memories  of days where I was able to go to school with my mom and sit in her classes with her, even then she always made sure I wasn't hungry, or that I always had an activity to occupy my time.  When it came time for graduation many people in my moms class didn't have children, they could devote all their time to studying for their boards. My mom found a balance between the two and still managed to score they highest score out of everyone of the boards, and graduate at the top of her class.  I struggle enough with  my finals now and I don't have anything close to a family that occupies my time.  When I was younger I didn't realize how big of an accomplishment this was for my mom to achieve, but now that I can look back on it I finally realized that my mom has pretty much always been a beast.

When it came to boys or friends my mom never put tight restrictions on me.  She let me go, she let me make my own mistakes, but she never said 'I told you so'.  She was there for me my sophomore year when the boy I had been crushin on BIG TIME decided he didn't like me anymore and decided to date a fish faced ginge (maybe i'm still a little bitter about how that was handled).  She was there my senior year when the boy I thought I was going to prom with decided to go with his ex-girlfriend, and she was there my last night in Mooresville after I said goodbye to a boy I loved and literally couldn't stop crying.  She was there when I was fighting with my best friends and sat with me while I cried all the way through The Hannah Montana Movie.  She always kept an open mind to the people I came home with, and she always had the greatest amount of trust in me.

I learned everything I know from my mom.  I learned how to love others, how to figure out my priorities, and how to be successful.  More than anything else, I learned that everything comes back to family.  Even if my mom and dad were having problems we were always reassured that no matter what, we'd be a family.  Watching the relationship that my mom still has with her own family is exactly what I want with my family.  Through her example i've learned how to be selfless, and how to find a balance between helping others while still taking care of yourself.  I have never questioned how important I am to my mom, or how important my siblings are to her.  Being away from her while i'm in college has been one of the hardest parts, but she always seems to know when something is wrong, and she always reminds me that she is only a phone call away.  I hope I can express to my family everything she has expressed to us.

My Mom > Your Mom