My Senior Season

"When I was struggling to walk laps around the Parker Adventist hospital wing, all I could think about was running my last lap at Jeffco stadium."

The same person three months apart.

On March 27th, I was heading back to the emergency room for the third time in three days.

On June 27th, I woke up a as a three-time state champion.

The road in between was full of unexpected twists and turns. It strengthened my patience and tested my trust. As many unexpected bumps there were, the destination was still the most unexpected--and joyful-- part of the journey.

Let me rewind to March 25th, when my appendix decided that it wanted out after 24 hours of sharp pains and throwing up. The surgery was easy, and I was home that night. The appendectomy would prevent me from running for 3 weeks and lifting for 6 weeks. Considering my season was supposed to start a month later, it wasn't ideal, but I would have plenty of time before the state track meet at the end of June.

Now, what would be ideal is if that was the end of the story, but that would make for a boring blog post, wouldn't it? Besides, we haven't gotten to the good stuff yet.

I had no idea that the words on these socks would

become a symbol of my senior season.

Twenty-four hours after the surgery, I started throwing up again, and my stomach pain came back with greater intensity. I went to the emergency room, where I was told that the pain meds had made me nauseas, and subsequently, vomit, which then left me vulnerable to the post-surgery pain in my stomach. In other words, they thought I was a wimp who couldn't handle typical post-op pain. So the wimp got sent home with a different set of pain killers, that I also threw up. I could use all kinds of words and analogies to describe the pain, but that's not why I'm writing.

I knew I wasn't a wimp, and I knew that my pain wasn't normal. So, 12 hours later, I was back in the ER. This time, they admitted me into the hospital and hooked me up to anti-nausea and pain medication as well as oxygen. I stayed that way for 4 days, trying to tough it out until I was due for my next round of pain killers. In the span of 5 days, I threw up well over 100 times. It took 3 scans to finally realize what was wrong: I had a small bowel obstruction (nothing about it seemed small to me though).

Allow me to translate. My stomach had swollen up from the surgery to the point where my small intestine closed. The doctor compared it to a garden hose that was pinched closed in the middle. Nothing can get past the "pinch," so everything must go back up the way it came from (if you're picking up what I'm putting down).

The doctor then told me that there were two options. The first was to wait it out until it naturally resolved itself, but the doctor said that would likely take weeks, if not longer. The second was to go down with a scope and try to unblock my intestines. If it didn't naturally resolve overnight, then he recommended that we do the procedure the next morning. He left the room to let me and my parents discuss my options.

Not 30 seconds after he shut that door, my door opened (ya feel me?). The pinch came undone. Either the doctor scared the literal you-know-what out of me, or God moved some mountains inside of me. I'm gonna go with the latter.

Afterwards, I weened off of the pain medications and anti-nausea. The next day, I ate! I don't think I have ever been so excited to eat (and I'm someone who gets really excited about food). Things were definitely trending upwards, but I still had a long road in front of me.

From all the throwing up and laying down, I could not stand up straight, and walking was painful. I weighed 10 pounds lighter than I did when I was first wheeled in less than a week ago (wouldn't recommend this diet plan). I felt miles away from the fitness level I had the week before and lightyears away from the fitness level I needed to achieve my goals at the state track meet. Which, by the way, were to win the 200 and 400 and some relays.

Within a week, I was walking again and even going to school (I got to park super close, too, hehe) with a backpack that did not exceed 15 pounds. I watched my team practice for a few weeks and got caught in the rain once, so I jogged back to my car!

Before I knew it, I was training with the team and even running in some practice meets. However, I had missed a lot of valuable special endurance training, so my 400m races were coming together slower than usual. As a result, I started running the 100m more, partly to work on my speed since I had missed so much, and partly to see if it was worth running at state.

As a 400m runner, I always thought the 100m would be a piece of cake. No lactic acid, no throwing up. How bad could it be?

I stand corrected. I most definitely underestimated the technical component of the 100m. Reaction time? Acceleration? Drive phase? Not my native language. I couldn't string together a perfectly executed race, and I knew I was leaving a lot of time on the track. Two weeks before the state track meet, I had to make a decision: run the 100 at state and risk an imperfect race or run a relay instead and likely secure 10 points for the team. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the state track meet, an athlete can only participate in 4 events. It's a three day meet with prelims and finals for almost all events. The higher you place in an event, the more points you score for your team. I was already planning on running the 200m, 400m, and 4x400m, and if I ran the 100m, I would have all 4 of my finals on the third day.

After tearful discussions with my coach and parents, I decided not to run the 100m and focused on the 200m and 400m for the final meets leading up to the state track meet. One morning, however, I woke up with a changed mind. I was going to run the 100m. Why wouldn't I? I was ranked fourth in 5A, and I had yet to execute all my phases in a race. I was one good race away from a big PR that could take the state title. Plus, the 200m and 400m were looking like difficult wins. I was terrified of being shut out completely from an individual state championship. By running the 100m, I was either increasing my chances to win a title or decreasing them by draining the strength and energy from my legs on the third day of the state track meet.

It was risky, but I wanted to go for it.

Two weeks after my decision to run the 100m at the Colorado High School State Championships, I lined up against eight other girls in the 100m dash finals. In the prelims two days before, I had put together the cleanest 100m race of my career. Now, I just needed to do it again, and do it better than everyone else in the field. I stood with my hands on my hips, shifting my weight back and forth from each leg. Back and forth. Back and forth. I took deep breaths as I cleared my mind. Silence fell over the packed stadium. I loaded my blocks like I had hundreds of times since I began racing ten years ago. This time was different, however, because my first ever individual state title was waiting for me 100 meters away.

"If you told me four years ago that I would win state in the 100m and not the 400m, I would have laughed."

After winning the 100m in the morning, I came back to place second in the 400m and win the 200m (by .01--AH!) and the 4x400m. Although I didn't accomplish my original goal, I couldn't dare to be disappointed. I was just thankful to be at the state track meet, let alone win three state titles. My senior season was far from what I could have ever envisioned, but it made the ending of my high school career all the more sweet.

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