No Regrets

"It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right.
I hope you had the time of your life" -Greenday, Good Riddance 


There's a lot going on for me. A lot I'm trying to figure out. But here are the things that, no matter what happens this spring, I am sure of. 


I’m a double major in Psychology and Communications so there have been thousands of lectures, hundreds  assignments, countless essays and presentations.  But for me, all of those lessons were purely academic. My third major has always been running.

When I came in as a freshman I never considered myself “good” at running and I almost didn’t go out for cross country. But Coach Travis convinced me to give it a shot and that’s how it all began.  The four amazing years that followed, taught me things that I could have never learned in a classroom alone. I learned about never giving up, how to have confidence, and what it means to truly believe in yourself. I found that as long as you believe you can accomplish all that you set out to do.

I never really “believed” until my junior year, and that’s when I made it to NCAA Nationals, that’s when I broke records, that’s when I learned what loving running is all about.

Sure there have been negatives. There have injuries and bad races and disappointments.  Nothing is worse than putting all of yourself into running a race and coming out with nothing to show for it but rubbery legs and a broken heart. But in the end I wouldn’t trade a single moment of it for the world.  Even with those disappointments that came about, the bad races, the injuries, there is not one thing, not one mile that I will ever regret.

On a personal note, I believe that cross country and track has done more than just made me a fast runner. It’s made me a stronger person overall. Reflecting back I can see clearly now that my legs are stronger, my lungs are stronger, but more importantly my friendships are stronger, my faith is stronger, my “self” is stronger.

I’ve come to realize that I have the best teammates in the world. We may be a small team but there’s no one like us. There’s no other people in the world that loves making puns like we do, exploring Milwaukee when we get lost on our distance runs, or can make me laugh like they do. They’re also the people  who painted their bodies and drove to Nationals to watch me last year, who know me best, who carried me through hard workouts, who carry my when I’m on crutches, who don’t forget me even though I can’t run. I think that when you run enough miles with someone you develop a special kind of bond that can never be broken. 

I’d like to tell you that the best moment of my career came at the end of a particularly successful race, or one moment where I discovered how much I love running, or one “breakthrough” workout. But this is not the case. The best moment of my running career is the culmination of thousands and thousands of miles that introduced me to some of the best friends I will ever have, while together we used cross country to celebrate our common gift: running.