The Sport I Love Anyway: Facing adversity.

All through middle school, the thought of qualifying for the state cross country meet got me through every run. I would imagine the last quarter mile of my runs was the end of the Iowa State Cross Country Meet and hundreds of people were lined up cheering me on. Freshman year comes and I finally get my first taste of a victory. I was the one freshman girl to ever place at State, 7th. It was during the next summer of training that my coach told me I had the potential to be a state champ some day. A spark inside that 5foot, 100lb freshman, ignited that day. Going into the state meet, as a sophomore now, I was ranked third. I ran a PR and placed 2nd, with the 1st place girl graduating to a D1 school. Motivated as ever, I took the following summer to a whole new level, and when it came time for districts, I pulled out a huge PR after being ranked #1 all season. Finally, it was the day of the State Meet. I was about to become the first ever state champion to come out of my high school in any sport. Confident as ever, the race began and I lead the entire way. I start to pull farther away from the pack. A 200 meter straightaway is all I have left, I can see the finish line. Soon enough, I lost complete control over my legs. They were going on their own, all I had to do was keep pace and finish. All of a sudden my vision was blurry and I started to slow, I told myself I just had to go straight.. I was so close I could smell the finish. My only goal at that point was to not fall on my knees, as girls passed me one by one. Eventually, my body gave out, I wanted to finish so I grasped the grass and tryed pulling my weak body closer to he finish. Long enough, I blacked completely out and woke up in a medical tent. I had a choice that day. I could give up and walk away, or take advantage of the one year I had left to become a State Champion. Through the strength of God, I had the right mindset. I put in a summer of a lifetime. The local newspaper read “Redemption Year for Reeg” the day of the first meet of the year. I was damn ready to redeem myself. A week before the state qualifying meet, I was one interval away from completeling one of the last endurance/speed interval workouts when I felt the sharpest of pains in my foot. It got worse and worse... eventually I couldn’t walk. I went to the doctor and got the news no runner wants to hear: a stress fracture. With high hopes of running at the state qualifying meet, I cross trained for a week until the day before the meet. I needed to try it out. After running a quarter of a mile, I could not longer bare any weight on my foot. My senior season was coming to an end. The day I dreamed of for so long was no longer going to be reality. Going to the state meet as a spectator, when I knew I could be out there competing, turned my stomach in 1000 different ways. The first time I looked at the old state cross country finish line, I dropped to my knees in tears. Who knew my last time crossing that finish line I always dreamed about as a little girl was going to be my sophomore year? I don’t take any victory for granted now. When I got my boot off, I celebrated. When I ran my first mile after 8+ weeks of nothing, I celebrated. When I was completely pain free, sure as hell I celebrated. Take no stride for granted. We are all gifted to be able to participate in such a grueling, amazing, uplifting activity throughout our entire lives and redeem ourselves everyday, even when our cross country career ends. Running is a sport I’ll love forever, and no injury or unexpected phenomena will ever take that away from me.

- Camryn Reeg ( @camrynreeg )