subject: An Olympian's Medical Future [print this page] This lady graced this small town for the very first time in 1984 believing that she can one day become a great runner and get the chance to compete in the Olympics. Within four short years, her greenish brown eyes were able to capture everything. When she competed in the Olympics of 1988 held in Seoul Korea, she only got 6th place prize in the 3,000 meter run. December came and this young world class athlete finally graduated. Since she was already considered the next queen of American middle distance running at a young age of 23, she easily bagged a three year contract to endorse a famous company that manufactures shoes.
But as of the moment, this girl from Delaware chose to stick to her roots. On her regular workouts, she courses the environs of the campus. This stunning young runner stands 5 foot 6 and weighs 110 pounds but as she runs to her own finish line, it's as if her feet barely touch the ground. She does not like the whole idea of fame especially when people seek her autograph. She gets bothered with special treatment for she is a humble lady who believes that she is just another average person.
As normal as she is, she is certainly not average. She was the first lady to ever become an Olympian in their town. She possesses 4 U.S. collegiate titles and of seven world record relay teams, she is a member. At school, she led her team, capturing eight individual NCAA championship titles and 14 Big East championship titles. She has also driven herself to achieve a lot of the bigger honors.
Now that she has already finished her collegiate competition life, she, along with their school's track mentor is carefully setting up her career in running. Since she is seeing a huge transformation, she needs to make a lot of mental adjustments. It's hard for people to understand unless they've been through it. She challenges herself to become a great runner and this is why she feels so much pressure. An overpowering qualm she has is on encountering injuries while she is still under contract, the three year one she signed with the famous shoe manufacturer. Since a lot more people are counting on her now, she feels the great deal of uneasiness that she never felt back during her collegiate competition days.
Many keep asking if without her, how could the local woman's track team survive. She assured people that this great team will still move forward. The pressures around her along with the notoriety and responsibilities make her value her privacy. Even her siblings, a brother and a sister, along with their parents, needed to adjust to the fact that now, people know them too. She notes that while her parents were never pushy, they were very encouraging and laid back.
You would be surprised and envious of the company she keeps, thanks to her stardom. Her friends include an elite group of athletes whom most of us have to be content just to watch on TV. While she does name drop, this is without any hints of pretention since she has nothing but true affection and concern for these great people that share with her a common link. For instance, as she came back this June from Hawaii after going on tour with another runner, she shares that the last time she saw him was during the Olympic Games. They talked about the old times and just had fun for three days and she was happy about it.
Her list of things to do has not gotten any shorter even if she shares that she's got so much time on her hands. More than just practicing daily to become better as a runner, she is also a public figure and this calls for her to make sure that she is on top of her busy schedule which involves gracing various banquets, track meets, interviews or photo sessions. On top of it all, this generous lady will share her time and abilities by being a volunteer assistant coach at their local school.
She also wants to become one of the volunteers in an area hospital so that she can be able to keep up with the medical aspirations she has presently put on hold. This will certainly enable her, a psychology and premed major, to decide whether or not she should still run after her medical aspirations when she gets off the professional running track. When she was asked about how she foresees her future, she shares that her dream of having a great husband and kids will have to wait until she has become an established runner. She wants to accomplish her goals first and do all she wants in life.
