By Valeria Benitez
At track practice, when the warmup mile takes the breath out of me, I always seem to watch sophomore Katherine Alford lap me as if she were on a walk with a friend. Fortunately, she wasn’t running when I caught up with her in the alcove.
This track captain’s journey to speed demonhood did not happen overnight. Before joining the team, she played soccer, which helped build her competitiveness and endurance. However, she quit soccer and switched fully into track, which has allowed her to focus more on improving her technique and speed. (You can run a lot faster when you’re not trying to dribble a ball at the same time.)
It also helps when there’s a great new head coach like Saidah Jones. Coming from Westminster, she has strict protocols and strict practice compared to last year. Katherine has noticed the difference. “It’s a lot harder,” she said. But she believes it’s made the team better.
In the past, a practice might have been comprised of 2 laps with just relay practice. This year, we do a mile warm-up and then lots of sprint sets. The intensity is very noticeable right away.
While her methods are not everyone’s favorites, Coach Saidah has pushed us out of our comfort zones to build our physical and mental strength. If there’s one thing I learned this season is that you race how you practice, and practice does, in fact, make perfect.
Knowing that track meets can last hours, I asked Katherine what she thought the biggest commitment was, and she insisted that the meets were the biggest commitment because they are usually a day long. “Sometimes I have to give up Saturdays from 11 am to 5 pm,” she said. She recalled our first meet, where it started at 7 am, but it was raining with a thunder watch, “so the normal person would think, oh, they are just going to cancel it like any sport would, but no, they delayed it till 11 am.”
She must balance all of this training with rigorous classes like Honors Chemistry, Honors Precalc, and AP World (sophomore year, I don’t miss you). “It’s definitely hard because you can’t do any work at the meets, because you are always either warming up or cooling down, so I can’t always do my homework,” she said. She told me she plans in advance. For example, if she has a meet on Wednesday, she plans to do two days’ worth of homework on Tuesday.
Now, for her incredible accomplishments: she says her best time is in the 100, with a PR of 12.57 seconds. If you are not a track expert, a high school girl’s PR is usually 14-15 seconds, while competitive runners are in the 12-second range. Her competitiveness was definitely on display this past weekend when the Lovett Girls Track team won the championship!
A crucial element of the team is the community we build together. Track involves boys and girls from 9-12th grade, and you become friends with people fast (like I met Katherine!). Track may seem like an individual sport, but athletes rely on each other for cheering and motivation during races. The team environment is definitely contributes to our attitudes through tough practices.
Katherine told me how her favorite memories from track come from hanging out at the tent with her teammates and “just goofing around.”
Now, for those of you who tend to have a negative mindset before practice, maybe Katherine can inspire you. She said having a PR mindset is key; you have to believe you can do your very best. For her, thoughts like “I’m not going to do well” can get into your head and affect your performance.
After talking with Katherine, it is clear that track takes a lot of hard work and determination. It also confirmed one thing for me: I am not built for running that much, and I am definitely not going to college for track.
While she is out there breaking school records and PRs, I am out here, out of breath, struggling to survive the warm-up. I honestly don’t know how she does it, while also handling the hardest classes a sophomore can take. But I do know one thing: I think it’s safe if I admire her dedication from a safe distance…preferably the sidelines, cheering her on.
