The Cross Country Sprinter
I didn't run at all in middle school. The theater was my forte, and performance had an entirely different meaning to me than it did to my athletic counterparts. Sure, I was on the "All-Star" team in elementary school, but that was barely anything to be proud of in my eyes. Come February of freshman year though, my best friend had begun planting the seed in my head. I was going to join Track and Field, and I was going to like it. Figuring that I would join simply to amuse myself and see what event I wasn't completely horrible at, I told my skeptical parents that I wanted to join the high school Track team, and they eventually let me. To my surprise, on the very first day of the season, the hurdle coach at the time looked at me and said, "You look like a hurdler." Now, whether or not Coach really thought so was irrelevant, as those words would change my life, forever.
Now hurdling wasn't all peaches and cream, of course. I didn't start out as the most athletic, the most fluid, the fastest. But it didn't matter. What mattered was the patience I developed, the flexibility, the coordination and the whole works. I could feel myself becoming more confident and getting faster. I went from running a 55-second 300-meter hurdle that season to a 51-second time, and never had I ever felt more proud of myself.
The 2016 season would come and bring even more improvement, as I got to 48 seconds in the 300-meter hurdles and went from 70 seconds in 9th grade to 61 seconds for my 400 split in 10th grade. Everything was going so well, but I felt like I was missing something, like I needed to do more. I remembered that many of the girls who ran on the Distance squad in Track were also on the Cross Country team, and following heavy consideration during the first part of the summer, I decided to join them during the early fall. It came as a shock to many of the girls and boys who knew me as the hurdler/sprinter and I felt so out of place. I vividly remember having to stop and walk for a good 2 minutes about 2 1/2 miles in on the first day of practice. It was embarrassing. But now that I look back, I realize that no one else thought so other than me. As the season progressed, I improved only a bit. My 5k time went from 26 minutes to 25 and the best I ever ran was at the section meet, which was 25 flat. I did start to develop a great relationship with the girls on the team though, and I looked up to even the kids younger than me who were so disciplined and driven. It wasn't a groundbreaking season, but I accomplished many things I would have never thought possible. Even just completing a 5k was huge. Funny enough, the coaches would pick me, the sprinter, to be one of three Cross Country captains for 2017. Although that amazed me, the biggest takeaway from Cross Country was the new appreciation I found for these seemingly untouchable runners, the distant section of the track team, the girls I barely ever talked to, who had so much dedication and love for their event. I had discovered what it meant to truly be a teammate through these wonderful athletes and what they had to offer.
That winter I did Winter Running, which led into the 2017 Track Season. This, was the groundbreaking season. I would run 45 seconds in the 300m hurdles, 59 seconds in the 400, and 16 seconds in the 100 hurdles. Our 4 by 4 relay even ended up going to State with our 3:55 time, which was a first for me. I believe that I was able to improve so much not only because of all of the training I completed during Cross Country and the offseason, but also because of the relationships I developed during this time. The support and positivity that these girls exhibited was so infectious. On the bus rides home on which we blasted our favorite song, the practices where everyone was just ripping it up, the practices where we felt like we were dying, the hilarious Zumba days, and the oh-so-loved pasta feeds, you could just feel the connection everyone had, no matter how fast, how slow. It was really just beautiful.
My senior Cross Country season went well. Despite being injured for a few meets, I still managed to get a personal best of 22:58 at the end of the season and I couldn't feel any more proud of myself or the other girls on the team who just did amazing. Going to the state meet to watch my children (as I began calling them) was sweet, and they really left it all out on the course. Now as I count down the days until my last high school Track season, my mind is flooded with so many fond memories of my previous seasons and how far I've come. It's crazy to think that I almost didn't become a runner, and I can't help but wonder where I would be now if I never began. As a 2018 Track captain, I am making it a goal to do as much as I can to bring our team even closer than we were before. Our head coach, Richard Samuelson, is fighting Pancreatic Cancer currently and I know that we need to be strong in order to support him because he has in many ways instigated the love we share between our coaching staff and each other. I feel blessed that I am on a team that cares enough to rise to the occasion in such a time. I don't think I could have asked for a better group of people to spend time with and learn from, and I will always hold them close to my heart.
- Yajaira Lansiquot ( @wblgirlstrack )
