S T E E P E D .
A Blog
CONCLUDING.
My Augustana running career ended in so many places. Technically, you could say it ended May 15, 2021, when I ran my last race in the golden AU uniform. Or in June of that same year, when the injury that unknowingly ended it all occurred. Or a random Monday on campus—just under three weeks ago—when…
RADICAL PATIENCE.
I got the chance to plan and lead a weekday service at my university’s chapel this morning. Below is the transcript of my sermon! If you think about it, Advent is a time of waiting. We wait for four weeks, from the very end of November right up to Christmas Eve to celebrate Jesus. In…
4 THINGS I LEARNED IN THE MIDST OF INJURY.
1. EVERYONE ELSE IS ALSO GOING THROUGH SOMETHING One of the coolest things about constantly being in the training room for PT is seeing the other athletes there too. So many athletes on campus have injuries and I wouldn’t have known if not for seeing them at rehab. And while obviously you never want anyone…
SWIM. SWAM. SWUM.
Man, time really flies when you’re having fun(?). It’s been almost 12 weeks since surgery and 16 weeks since I last ran. But training doesn’t stop—it just evolves. In the past four months, I’ve done a lot of cross training: biking, rowing, ellipticaling, and (of course) swimming. Luckily for me, I joined swim team my…
HOW TO NOT-RUN(?)
It’s no secret (or maybe it is) that I haven’t run in a long time. Twelve weeks (or 87 days) to be exact. In the space between injury and surgery, not-running was easy. For a while, I could convince myself that maybe I’d be fine without surgery and my comeback would be quick. I biked…
THE POWER OF SHAME
A little more than two weeks ago, I had my first post-op appointment with my doctor. I was just under two weeks out of surgery and a day removed from having bent my knee to 85°. (Side note: my goal was to be at 90° in two weeks.) Easy, I thought. I can show my…
PRACTICING THANKFULNESS
A little over a week ago, I misstepped on a trail run and dislocated my kneecap. It stayed out of place for around two hours, and (once it was finally put back in place at the ER) for the next five days, I barely moved. At all. But then, slowly, some of the mobility came…
LESSONS LEARNED
This past year of running has been pretty good to me. I trained hard, upped my mileage a bit (then dropped it back down), set some PRs for the first time in four years, broke 5 minutes in the mile (and then did it some more for good measure), qualified for my first NCAA Nationals…
THOUGHTS OF A FIRST-TIME STEEPLER
Four days ago, I raced my first* steeplechase. It was exhilarating; it was exciting; it was. . . exhausting. I honestly didn’t know what to expect, so, to save you from also not knowing what you’re getting yourself into (if you ever decide to run it), I’ve compiled my thoughts from the day. 7:45 am…
RUNNING (SHOULD BE) FUN
You know when you expect really great things out of yourself and then all of a sudden you can’t even muster up “okay” results because anything besides great is automatically bad?? Yeah, that sucks. And in the weeks following nationals (yay, whoot whoot, I qualified!), my running was exactly there. Any time I ran, I…
A YEAR OF SOLO WORKOUTS
Whether you think it’s good or bad or have otherwise grown apathetic towards it, we’ve been running (and walking and biking and living) alone for a while now. Depending on where you live, one year to be exact. While I know exactly what I did to stay active over quarantine (run solo, run solo, and…
FINDING THOSE MINI-WINS
Get out your cakes & candles because we’re celebrating the small stuff today! This past weekend, I raced the open 800 for the first time all season. As runners tend to do, I had some big goals going in — how could I set myself up well for conference? For future 800s? And . .…
WHEN OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS
What’s the shortest turnaround you’ve ever had between signing up to race and actually racing. For me, it was 36 hours. And it actually happened two weeks ago. My team was headed to one of our first meets of the season, and after a lot of back and forth debate, my coach finally asked me:…
YAY HILLS!
This past Friday – much like every week during winter training (and sometimes during summer) – the Augustana distance team trudged up a hill. Okay, fine. ‘Sprinted’ might be more accurate, even though sprint might be too generous. Let’s just call it somewhere between a trudge and a sprint. But the point is: We did…
2020: A LESSON IN FLEXIBILITY
It would probably be an understatement to say I like having a plan. Every Sunday night, I gather up my journals, my emails, and my planner, sit on the floor, and jot down my weekly schedule. I plan out most of my meals, my runs, and all the non-running but running related things I want…
[S]PEAKS: BRITTANY CHARBONEAU
“I’m Loving Every Minute of It!’” Brittany Charboneau can best be described as joyful. Or personable. Or caring. Ecstatically energetic. Rambunctious, even. She packs a lot of personality. Charboneau started running in eighth grade. After stints on school teams all the way through college, she turned to marathons and, now, trail races. It took until…
REDISCOVERING JOY
It’s been 76 days since I last posted. Someone may want to check my math on that, but the point is, it has been a long time since this blog was active. Because 76 days? That truly is a gaping absence for my blog. At first, I aimed to post once a week. It was…
TO RUNNING
I sprawled across the floor of my bedroom for a while, trying to come up with the perfect intro (and then the perfect middle portion and then the perfect conclusion) to this post. How could my blog adequately and accurately celebrate Global Running Day? How could anyone begin to summarize something so fluid? What words…
[S]PEAKS: DANI MORENO
“You Still Have Time” One of the first mountain runners I was introduced to was Dani Moreno. She showed up on the Instagram Explore page I was scrolling through, with beautiful California trails and her own winning runs scattered across her picture timeline. It was the first time I realized that trail running was a…
FALSE SUMMITS
We didn’t know how far up the mountain we were. Obviously. Just moments earlier, we had quickened our footfalls, pulled out our phones to take pictures, and prepared (for the second time) to summit our collective first 14er. Just moments earlier, we had crossed over the curve of the slope, and (for the second time).…
THE BIKE STORY
This post was originally written as a personal essay for the Writing for Magazines class at Augustana. Today, May 1, marks the beginning of National Bike Month. I smelled like donuts. The frying oil had condensed on my skin, clumped in my hair, snuck up my nose. It was all-encompassing. But there was no time…
PASSING THROUGH THE FIRE
This Easter weekend, running and mountains are taking the backseat as I discuss my favorite passage from The Bible instead. “Everything that can withstand fire shall be passed through fire.” Numbers 31:23 There is nothing remarkable about Numbers 31:23. This partial passage is indifferent, the words merely stating a law. Purity was an important part…
THE ALLURE OF THE TRAILS
Forty-seven people. Some biked. Some ran. Others hiked. In the 32 minutes I was on the trails for my Wednesday morning run, I passed 47 other trail-goers (yes, I counted). It was, if I had to guess, about average, if not less crowded than normal. On my other runs the previous day and over the…
SOLO TRACKS
With sweat dripping from my temple, sun beating on my face, and lungs constricting from the strain of the workout, there was one thought in my mind: wow, I wish I had someone here to pull me along. But I didn’t. So, I slogged — although that may be misleading, as I did in fact…
LIFE’S STAND-STILL
The landscape weaves together outside my window: the dogwood and redbud trees of northern Mississippi blurring together, the water droplets flinging themselves from the car, remnants of the downpour we drove through 15 minutes ago. It’s 3:30 on a Monday afternoon, and I should barely be getting done with class. Instead, I’m 850 miles away,…
INSPIRATION FROM ALL SIDES
The Olympic Trials. Conference championships for NCAA schools. The BU Last Chance Track Meet. I could be missing a few, but the point is, running had some major events this past weekend. And that’s exciting — I love following all things running, especially hearing about fellow runners crushing it. It gives me new goals to…
THE (PLURAL) POWER OF TEAM
So far this season, I’ve been a part of a powerful sea of yellow charging towards the finish line twice. Both times, surrounded by that wave of women, I’ve raced to my fastest times ever. Others have too. Our coach, Scott Tanis, told us before the season even began that he wanted to put more…
CARVING OUT A SPACE
Technically, there is a universal definition for home. Dictionary.com defines it as “a house, apartment, or other shelter that is the usual residence of a person, family, or household. Merriam-Webster calls it “one’s place of residence.” Those are the brick-and-mortar types of homes, though — the buildings. They don’t get at the essence of home,…
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