God’s Work in My Life – Part 4

I was excited for track my junior year, partly to “redeem” myself from a disappointing end of cross country, but also because I barely had a track season sophomore year. My first race of the season was at Ben Brown Invitational, held at UC Fullerton. I had a lifetime PR of 19 seconds to run 19:10. I distinctly remember this race because I found myself with the leaders half way through the race, and I literally had no idea what to do. Should I just try to hang with them? What if they started to slow down? Should I start kicking with a few laps to go because I probably don’t have as good of a kick as they do? I ended up in 4th at that race, and walked away with a huge PR, but knew I could do better. I remember asking Coach what to do when I find myself at the front of races. I figured I would probably be at the front of the second heat in many races, so I better figure this out quickly. When watching Karis race, she always seemed soooo comfortable in the front or just sitting on people. She didn’t seem like she stressed about when to take the lead or when to kick. Because I was always so slow before this, I had never found myself in the position of having to make these decisions. Coach just told me to be very confident in my training and always do what seemed to give me the best chance of winning. Just go out there relaxed and have lots of fun!

I ended up winning my first race ever at an invitational held at CSU San Marcos. It was a 3,000m race, and I remember being so confident going into that race. Amie had been encouraging me to be bold and take the opportunities that come to me. I remember listening to “True Love” by Phil Wickham right before warmup, and being so thankful that my Savior, Jesus Christ would be willing to die a criminal’s death to save me from eternity in hell and intense pain. This example of true love made me inspired to race! When the gun went off, I found myself in a pack of about 6 girls. I remember not wanting to lead because it was very windy that day. I felt controlled but fast and took the lead with about 600m to go. Most of the girls went with me, but when the bell rang, I realized it was for me! I knew I could win this race. One girl passed me with 300m to go, I passed her back, then she passed me, and with 100m left, I took the lead for good. I don’t think I had ever sprinted so hard in my life! I had seen Karis lead the race right before me and lose in the last 50m and I didn’t want that to be me! I crossed the finish line in 11:06, about 3:25 faster than what I had run in age group for a 3k! I looked over at my teammates who had been screaming at me, and most of them were crying! I couldn’t understand why, but I think they realized what hadn’t hit me yet: the hard work was paying off! That race was the day before my birthday, and what a sweet birthday present it was! The sad part was that Abigail was racing at Arcadia that day, so my parents weren’t there.

The first and only race I’ve ever won!

Summer of my senior year was really fun. We started it by camping in Big Bear for 5 days, at the end of which I got to run the Lake Loop. It’s a 15 mile loop all the way around Big Bear Lake. No girl on the team had ever finished the loop, but I was able to finish it, with my fellow seniors Hannah and Katrina ahead of me. When I finished just under 2 hours, Hannah and Amie were crying again! I think the weight of that moment was lost on me, but Hannah had seen me grow into a real college athlete. The progression that I had seen in my own running has nothing to do with me, but all of the strength comes from God. He is the reason I run. He has given me the wonderful talent and desire to run competitively, and it’s my responsibility to be a great steward of the talent He’s given me.

We had 4 incoming girls (3 freshman and a junior transfer) whom we lovingly dubbed “The Freshies”. I got to run with 3 of them (Rachael was still at home in Florida) that summer, and for the first time in college, I had a group to train with every day! Coach asked me to get our group to run together, knowing we would need a big pack as close together and as close to our “Big Three” as possible. Hannah, Karis and Katrina were the “Big Three” we were chasing down. By the time we got up to Mammoth for our 2 week training camp, our pack was 6 people deep, and we were known as “That Pack”.

The first week in Mammoth was really rough for me as I had a hard time adjusting to the 9,000 foot altitude, but by the second week, I was starting to actually train. The most epic run on that trip is the Inyo Craters Loop, a 10 mile loop around a few craters. It even had a big hill in the middle that took us up the side of a mountain that looked like Mount Doom from Lord of the Rings! I ran with Hollie, Rachael and Charity on that loop until the end when we spread out a little bit. I was so exhausted by the end, and had no idea how close we were to the finish, but just then I saw Ryan. He was injured at the time, so he walked backwards on the loop and used his air horn to cheer us from a long distance. I didn’t know it was him right away, but when I finally saw him, I was excited because I knew we were close. After what seemed like forever, we got back to the cars and realized we had finished the epic Craters Loop. It was that run which helped me realize that I could negotiate with my body and make it do things I thought I couldn’t do. I realized I could overcome great obstacles. My dad even reminded me of this all throughout the season by texting our family the week of each race great quotes about overcoming.

My favorite race of this season was our home meet, The Mustang Challenge. It’s hosted at a nearby park, and it seemed like half of the school was there to cheer for us! We even had a community 5k before the college races, and some friends from church came run in that race! That race was the first time I broke 19 minutes in the 5k for cross country and our team was second for all NAIA schools in attendance.

A few weeks later, we raced at the Vanguard Invitational, and placed 2nd to Biola, who beat us by about 40 points. This was an important race for us because 1 month later we would race our Conference Championships on that same course. The crazy thing was that race at the Invitational was a good race for us, but we knew that we could race much faster. At Conference, we were 2nd behind Biola again, but this time we only lost by 4 points. It was such a bittersweet moment for us seniors, because we knew that it was our last chance to win a conference title, and we had closed the gap between us and Biola so much. I remember hugging Hannah after the race by the awards ceremony. I was really bummed that we didn’t win, because that was our goal all along, but she reminded me of how far the team had come. We reminisced over the Conference Championship race our freshman year where we only beat 1 team and had no All-GSAC and didn’t qualify for nationals. The good news about placing second at GSAC was that we qualified as a team to race at Nationals for the second time ever and the second time in our career. We were excited to go to Lawrence, Kansas for the first time. Hannah and I even got “ruby red slippers” (aka Toms) to wear on our travel days! It was such a fun trip, because the guys team also qualified by winning the fourth straight conference title, so all 17 of us travelled, played games and got to race together!

The hug Hannah gave me after the close loss at GSAC

As excited as we were to race as a team at Nationals again, we weren’t without setbacks. Karis (our #1 or 2, depending on the day) raced at Conference but hadn’t run much between that race and Nationals. She was having issues with her shins and back/hip. Hollie (our usual #7) also struggled with her shins all season but they were getting worse. It was a great thing that all 9 girls travelled with us because Friday morning Coach told us that neither of them would be racing so Morgan and Jess would have the opportunity of a lifetime.

Race day was FREEZING cold, even though our race was at 11:45am! I think it was about 20 degrees plus about 20mph of wind, so wind chill and the real temp felt like really low teens. I wore every sweatshirt and tights I brought on the trip just for warm-up that day! Plus a hat and 2 pairs of gloves. This California girl was freezing even with all of these clothes! The race was held at Rim Rock Farm, which is known for the running statues of very famous runners along the course. We were able to run the course several times, so we knew were going to have to get out fast to get up the first uphill and turn. The problem for me was that I got out too fast in the first 200 meters and with the cold and hills, I went anaerobic quickly. I don’t remember much about the race except trying not to get passed by too many people. At the finish I was hoping to hear that Hannah and Katrina were All Americans, but they suffered as well. Katrina missed being All American by 9 spots and 11 seconds. I soon learned that Hannah was in a pack of 4 at the halfway point of the race, but the Achilles injury she had sustained 2 weeks prior and the cold had overpowered her will to win. Even with our #1 hurt and our #2 and 7 not racing, we placed 14th out of 32 teams. We were happy, but not satisfied.

Racing in the FREEZING cold in Kansas. Check out the sweet red covered bridge!

The famed Rim Rock Farm! Taken after our first run on the course.

 

A picture of the women’s team at Nationals in Kansas, November 2013. This was after cool down… notice all the layers of warm clothes!

The girls showing off our sweet HOMEMADE gloves made by Hannah’s mom! Taken after our pre-meet run. (L to R: Karis, Hannah, Katrina, Morgan, Me, Rachael, Jess, Charity, Hollie)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Stay tuned for the last piece of the series!

 

God’s Work in My Life – Part 3

My first collegiate race was at UC Fullerton Invite 6k, and I had never raced that distance before. There were several alumni from my sister’s high school racing, and I remember clearly being star struck there as well. My very first cross country coach and his wife were there and cheering for me, which reminded me of how far I had already come! I ran well, but finished in the bottom half. That is what I was used to when I ran in high school, so it didn’t surprise me at all.

The next race was UC Irvine Invitational 5k. I ran 21:20, which was a 2:03 minute Personal Record (PR) from my best 5k ever. My freshman cross country season I ended up breaking 21 minutes in the 5k and ran the fastest at GSAC conference championships in 20:42. This was a race I will never forget. We ran well as a team, but finished 8th out of 9 teams. This race is one that we always look back to remember from where we came. My PR in track was 19:52, which I ran at the Pomona Pitzer invite, and was the first time I ever broke 20 minutes in the 5k. I had PR’d 3:31 in my first year of college! Too bad I didn’t keep this up for another year, or I would have run 16:22 by my sophomore year of track!

My freshman year was spent trying to get used to training, doubling and being consistent in training big. My miles increased from about 20 miles a week in high school to about 50 by the end of my freshman year, all without a single injury. When the summer base training started in June 2011, I felt like a whole new person. I felt stronger and faster than ever before, with the desire to increase strength and speed much more. The highlight of my sophomore year was qualifying for NAIA cross country nationals with my team by placing 4th at the GSAC conference championship meet. Remember how we were 8th just one year earlier? We were now the first ever women’s team in the history of The Master’s College cross country to qualify for Nationals. And as Coach would say, “You can only be the first once!” All of the hard work and miles we had put in over the past year and a half was starting to pay off. We ended up 10th out of 32 teams at Nationals, which were held in Vancouver, Washington. Our Sophomore Holly was the only female All American that year, but it encouraged the rest of the team to continue training in excellence.

Despite how well the first 3 collegiate seasons went, my sophomore track season was a wreck. I had been feeling indestructible, and as soon as I felt that way I got sore calves, which I stretched too hard and ended up with what we think was Compartment Syndrome. This is a painful injury and often requires surgery if it gets bad enough because the muscle expands when it gets swollen and has micro tears. The sheath around the muscle is much more rigid than the muscle is and does not expand, so surgery is often required to cut the sheath to allow room for the muscle to expand. I only got to race 3 times that season but probably should have only raced once. I was training for the steeplechase, which was a blast, but because I was working on my feet a lot and not getting the best nutrition and sleep, I could not recover like my body required. I was doing lots of extra hurdle drills to help my steeplechase form, and ended up getting hurt for about 3 months. I wanted to be tough and show Coach that I was tough, but this attitude is what made the injury worse because I didn’t know how to balance being tough with being smart in training.

I was so excited that my sister Karis signed with Master’s in January of her senior year, so I would have 2 years on the team with her. She is a phenomenal athlete with a great work ethic and a willingness to kill herself in workouts and races. She was one of the best runners our Valley had ever produced, and I thought that when she signed we’d have a much better chance of getting quality local runners to join as well. Getting Karis to sign was a major step in the direction of excellence our team was headed for.

When she joined the team for her first day of practice, we headed up to Big Bear to tent camp for the week. We had a ton of fun, but 2 days in, she broke her “baby” toe playing flag football barefoot. It was the first broken bone in our family, and really seemed to shoot down her hopes for a great summer of base training. It was really hard for me to watch her go through this trial, even though she had such a wonderful attitude about it. Sure, she was disappointed, but she was determined to work hard cross training and getting extra calcium and omega 3’s to help her bone grow. It was also a wake up call for me, because I realized that I needed to step up and be a good scorer for the team. (Fastest 5 people score, and lowest score wins in cross country). I had been a scorer part or all of the previous 2 seasons, but now there was only 6 girls on the team, so losing Karis was a big deal. She was able to come back just a few weeks before the first race, and being the beast she is, seemed to not lose any conditioning. We had a solid season, with each girl progressing. Hannah even won some races, which was a first ever for our team!

At GSAC, we were ranked 3rd going into the race, because we had beaten Westmont a few times throughout the season, and thought we’d have a huge chance to beat Vanguard and maybe even Biola if we had an amazing race. Turns out, we placed 4th out of 8, again. We lost to Westmont by 1 point, and were not selected for an At Large bid for Nationals. It was the most heartbreaking weekend of my life, as I waited for the “qualified” list to come out, but knowing we probably wouldn’t be making the trip back to Vancouver, WA again as a whole team. Right after the At Large list came out and it was official that we didn’t make it, Amie took me out to Golden Spoon so I could drown my sorrows in frozen yogurt! I was happy for Hannah, Katrina and Karis, since they qualified individually but I was so hurt that I couldn’t go. I thought that I was so much better than how I raced that day and our team was so much better so we deserved to run at Nationals again! But I soon realized that life isn’t always fair, and the deciding factor isn’t what we deserve.

Coach had made 2 decisions on the day of the Conference Championship race that were conservative so that 2 of the girls would be healthy for Nationals. That’s how sure we were that we were going to qualify. If any one of us had passed just 1 girl, we would have made it to Nationals. This was a defining moment in my career, because I realized that it was about the WHOLE team, not just me. I could have passed the one girl we needed. I didn’t need to hold Karis or Hannah responsible for it just because they were the fastest. It took several hours for me to be at peace with the fact that I couldn’t race at nationals that year, but it was really good for me at the same time because it lighted a fire of passion for running in my heart that would carry me through even till today. I wanted to do everything I could to make sure, to the best of my ability that the TEAM would qualify for nationals my senior year.

Jess, Hayley and I were still able to go to nationals and stay in the same gorgeous hotel the team stayed in (and get free hot chocolate and coffee whenever we wanted!) because a teammate’s mom had reserved a large room even though she was the only one from her family going because she thought she would be able to share with someone. This was such a huge blessing to us, because it turned out that it would be the best Nationals meet the program has ever had to date. John Gilbertson came in to Nationals undefeated for the season and continued his streak by becoming a National Champion, making him the first American born Male to win in 23 years. Teammate Anthony Pizzo was 15th in his final race as a mustang, and the men’s team placed a program record best 8th overall. On the women’s side, Hannah Kellerman surprised most people by finishing 8th individually and Karis finished 26th to be All-American as a freshman. Katrina also had a good race but just missed out being All American. It was inspiring to me to be there watching these amazing races unfold in the freezing cold and rain!

 

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Stay tuned! There’s more to come!