Blog #1 - My Background

Born in Bronx NY to Jamaican parents, my exposure to running was through track and field. I started in the sport of track and field very late—at age 19 in college. The most running I did previous to college was racing during field day in elementary school. Ignorant to the process of running collegiately, I made a goal of making Kennesaw State’s Track Team, which is a part of the NCAA at the division 1 level.

Failing to make the standards for the team for 2014, I began running with a collegiate club that specialized in road racing. This was my first exposure to the option and culture of long distance running, showing what it took to train for distances like the 5k and beyond. While I did not have any formal training, I was able to keep up with the men in the group, which I did diligently for two years. I managed to go from running about 26 minutes for the 5k down to 21 minutes.

One day I was working out on the Kennesaw State track and the relatively new distance coach noticed and spoke with me. They needed a few more women for the cross country team, and when I told him about my times, he said I could walk on. That was my minimal experience with being “recruited”, and the rest is history—from 2016-2018, I managed to run cross country for two seasons, setting personal records in almost every race. This was my first time training and running cross country races at a serious level.

My first season went well, so I was able to run indoor and outdoor track in the winter and spring. I was delighted and extremely grateful. I did not perform in track as well as I did in cross country, but managed to prove myself and many others wrong about my abilities. I only had two years to do this since my NCAA eligibility at the time was limited. Once I graduated, I still felt like I had more to give. Eventually I learned about running professionally post collegiately, as well as the opportunity to represent my parents’ home country of Jamaica. I learned more about the lack of post collegiate (as well as collegiate) distance runners the Caribbean has and felt even more compelled to do this. I told myself I would stay in this game until I felt like I had no more to give.

Training was rough initially as I had moved away from Kennesaw wanting to build my life elsewhere, but after a few more years in Atlanta and the surrounding area, I eventually found myself searching for a group out of state. I had maintained being in this bracket of being good, but not good enough to be elite. I managed to find a training group by the name of Space City Elite based in Houston Texas, which also peaked my eye with the city and nearby areas hosting many track meets. Houston also has its own indoor track—and although its not as prestigious at the professional level, I have hoped to get better times indoors especially. I had a good stint in GA post college, building my speed, bettering my form, and changing up my training to be more sustainable for my body. I learned about better nutrition, self care, and recovery for my body to maintain this high level of training.

Fast forward to present time, my body has been healing and I’m finding a good formula for my training. I have the best and most supportive teammates. Im taking it easy getting back into running as I have been injured on and off since 2019. I have big goals for the fall and beyond, and I’m choosing to believe that I will reach them.

To be continued. 🌸