Spring 2016
New year, new start. Twenty-sixteen had to be the only time I ever made a New Year’s Resolution and kept it. What was my resolution? To go back to club running practices and not quit. I entered the semester with a newfound resolve. I loved running in high school. With a team. With myself. For the racing. For the workouts. For the social aspect. For the fun of it. For the feeling of accomplishment. To see how much I could improve. I was determined to get back to that for all of the aforementioned reasons. Also, I had approximately one friend other than my roommates and, as the kids say, I was straight up NOT having a good time in college. I needed to ~find my place~ and make some more friends, otherwise it was going to be a very long four years. I was even considering joining a sorority to help with this, but knowing myself, I had a feeling I would fit in more comfortably with a group of runners.
For spring, I came back to College Park better prepared than I was in the fall. I actually ran on a regular basis over winter break in hopes of being able to keep up with people at practice. One of my first memories that semester was an easy run to PG plaza. It was so cold that I was sporting my “The East is Ours” New York Mets 2015 NL East championship pullover sweatshirt, and I never run in sweatshirts. The infamous Scott Berryman, ever running with the girls, happened to be on that run too and boy was he in an inquisitive mood. That would be the first of many occasions where I was harassed in the form of questions by Scott. They ranged from “What’s your major” (undeclared) to “What type of dog do you have” (a mutt). Every so often I would fall a bit back from the group, but this time I would speed up to catch up to everyone again. A semester before I would’ve just let it happen, but now I wasn’t giving up that easily.
One practice still early on I was debating whether or not to say bye to the practice goers that were sitting and stretching. I for one have always been awkward at leaving situations and interrupting a conversation by saying goodbye which is one of the reasons I was conflicted. Also, I was unsure if people would notice or care if I left. I expressed this to Jenna Reimer who said that she usually said bye to everyone because people were nice here. I did not say bye to anyone as I walked away from SPH (our new home as of Spring ‘16) that day. Change would come one step at a time.
As I began to attend practices more regularly I also began to get invites to the club running social events. That February I went to my first girls’ night featuring fondue hosted by Erin Grosskurth back when she was living in Silver Spring. See below for photo evidence and to admire Esther’s magnificent leggings! Katrina, who lived in the same building as me, offered to let me join the uber they were calling to chauffeur everyone to the event. I was (kinda) making friends! Things were looking up.
The semester progressed and I continued to run and attend practices regularly. If I wasn’t running at practice, I would run on my own. Once I felt ready for it, I even started doing workouts again. One weekend I was doing a workout by myself on the track at the same time as club-turned-varsity runner Pat Hanley. He approached me at one point and asked if I was planning on signing up for any meets that spring to which I replied no, I didn’t really feel like I was ready for racing yet. He encouraged me to anyway because it didn’t matter and the meets were fun. That comment stuck with me, so much so that it was the reason I changed my mind and signed up to race at Shippensburg that April. After a full year off from competitive running, I was poised to make my return.
April 30th, 2016. I arrived outside of SPH bright and early and joined the absolute squad car of me, driver Dan Russo, Frank Tiburzi, Trey Crump, and Katrina. I spoke maybe one sentence on the ride there. We made it to Shippensburg University in middle of nowhere, PA and took a spot on the bleachers. It was exciting just being in the atmosphere of a track meet again. I watched my new teammates run their races for most of the morning and early afternoon. At long last, it was time for me to start warming up. I was the only girl on the club in the open 800 that day, so I jogged around and stretched by myself anxiously. The pre-race nerves started to kick in, a feeling that I hadn’t felt in nearly 12 months. I received some support from Danny “thanks so much for coming to my house!” Schofield who cheered my name from the sidelines as I headed to the starting line. I thought to myself, How does he know my name? Anyway, I took my position and waited for the command. A moment that probably lasted a split second felt like an eternity, and then suddenly the gun went off and the race was on.
Having not raced in a while, I went out with the pack and let them set the pace. After just 200 meters though, I was feeling like they were holding me back. I took the lead half a lap in and never looked back, crossing the finish line first from the slow heat and surprising myself in the process. The clock read 2:45, only 10 seconds off of my high school PR, and having gone in with zero expectations other than to at least break three minutes, much better than I expected! The most surprising part, however, had to be how GOOD I felt after finishing! I had so much energy it was like I could’ve run the race all over again and done it even faster. (Hint hint, we would soon find out that was not the case.) I couldn’t believe I had ever let go of that post-race runners high that I used to feel after good runs in high school. It felt amazing to be back. I can’t express how glad I am that I made the last minute decision to race that spring. This meet was just the beginning of my college running career and I was so excited to see where it went. As I returned to the bleachers still beaming from my race I was asked if I wanted to run ANOTHER 800 but this time in a 4×8 with Abby, Esther, and Katrina. How could I say no to that?! The team needed a fourth leg and I was glad to get another race in before the season ended, plus relays are always fun. Katrina led off the race with a scorching 2:23 first leg and handed off to me in first place. I was almost immediately passed by half the field before hitting a complete wall on the second lap and getting passed by the rest of the field. We finished the race in second to last with neither Abby (who had steepled earlier), Esther (who had just finished the 3k), or I breaking 2:50 but hey, we got Katrina a chance to run a 2:23 and we were all just happy to be there. It was a great end to a fulfilling day.
I was itching to run more races after getting my first club competition under my belt. Luckily, I still had one more chance to race that semester: the Frederick Half Marathon. I had never done a half before; in high school, me and my teammates considered 7 miles to be a pretty long run. As a somewhat distance runner though, I felt like I should give it a try and see how far I could push my limits. I was finding my ~passion~ for running again. The longest run I did in preparation was 9 miles and I felt incredible afterwards. I was confident I could’ve continued for another 4 miles if I wanted to, but I was saving it for race day. I awoke at approximately 4:15 am the morning of the race, put on the coolest possible running outfit I had (look good run good), and slowly made my way to SPH for our 4:45 am departure. We arrived at the Frederick Fairgrounds at about 6 am after picking up Scott* from his late night shift at bents. I distinctly remember Abby* attempting to tweet from the club twitter that the gun went off at 7 am, but it was autocorrected to “fun goes off at 7 am,” which she kept‒a fitting tweet in my opinion. My goal for the race was to break 2 hours. I remember going out pretty fast (for me) through the first 7/8 miles, feeling great at first, but then having to slow down for the next few miles. Having zero half marathon experience definitely hindered my pacing abilities. Nonetheless, I was able to break my goal by nearly 8 minutes with a finishing time of 1:52! Not bad for a semester in which I didn’t plan on racing at all.
*If you haven’t already seen it, I highly recommend you all scroll back on the Maryland Club Running Facebook page to see Scott and Abby’s photo album from this race. You won’t regret it.
Spring 2016 came to an end shortly after the Frederick half, however there was still one more major club social event before we all said goodbye until the fall. If you know, you know. Pictured below is a “girls team” photo from the historic event. I even made it my cover photo on facebook for a while. I was actually starting to feel like I found my place at UMD. After spending the rest of the year counting down the days until I could go home for Thanksgiving, winter, and spring break, I thought to myself that night, I might miss it here a little bit over the summer. Check out my tweet from May 15, 2016 at 3:07 am for evidence. End season 2/8.
