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.