- How did you get into track and how long have you done it? Why did you start running?
Seventh grade was the first year it was available for us. I think it was mom that said ‘You should try to do this.’ In soccer, we would always do running as punishment and so I was like, ‘I don’t know if I really want to do this.’ But then once we started doing it in middle school, I was like, ‘This is actually a lot of fun.’ I didn’t use to run distance, I was just a sprinter. But in soccer, they would make us do a training mile, which is just a timed mile to see how well you could do. I got beat by one kid and the coach and I was like, ‘I want to beat both of them. I want to beat the coach and I want to beat that kid.’ And then they were like, ‘Oh you should actually try distance.’
- Do you have a favorite warm-up song to listen to?
No. I know some people get really hyped to warm up songs. And if they are playing it over the loudspeakers, like ACDC, that gets everyone going. But I can’t do it with headphones because they fall out. But ACDC comes on and I’m like, ‘we’re getting lit today!’
- What’s the most adventurous run you’ve ever had?
So we went to San Francisco for a meet. And it was really cool because it was a two-day meet. We competed on one day and the next day we didn’t have to compete but we still had to run. The people I was with and I didn’t really have a plan, so we were just going to run to the beach and then follow that for however long we need to. And then the beach ended and we got on some trail…it’s not like we had a plan for any of it. We didn’t know where we were. And then we come around the corner and there was this picturesque view of the Golden Gate Bridge. That was the coolest run that I’ve ever done, but it was also super adventurous too because there was no plan to any of it.
- Have you ever had a serious injury from running or anything else?
There has been the occasional strained muscle, I’ve had a stress fracture and my arches collapsed. The arches collapsing was this year and the stress fracture was a couple years ago. Usually, it’s just stress fractures and strains.
- Besides track, what is your favorite sport?
Skiing I think looks like so much fun. I know we have snow out here. I always thought skiing looked like a lot of fun. I would love to do that. And then I used to play soccer and I loved it. And people say, ‘Oh that’s not American,’ or something. Well yeah, but the whole rest of the world plays it. And when they get into the huge games where you have thousands of fans all cheering on one team, and when they score and the crowd goes absolutely wild. And you think of buzzer beaters in NBA, when its kind of close and then the whole stadium erupts and everything, it’s like that, except it’s for every single goal. If I could be a pro player, I’d be a pro soccer player because that’s awesome. I’m a big Real Madrid fan, and if you’re looking at Premier, I like Chelsea.
- Who did you cheer for in the Super Bowl? Why?
The Eagles. I was just tired of the Patriots. It just seems like they’ve won a lot. I don’t know how many times the Eagles have won, but I think their coach, it was one of his first seasons. So the fact that he was new and made it to the Super Bowl was pretty impressive. And he called some pretty ballsy plays. I was like you’re in it to win it, you’re risking it. That’s good. I like that. And they went for two-point conversions, which I don’t think you see very much, or like ever. Tom Brady. I get it. He’s good. Also, Tom Brady looked so slow last night. He just looked so unathletic. You’re slowing down. He went to run the ball, and it was just like, what happened? He’s slow.
- What is your favorite food?
I love a lot of foods. My mom makes this shepherd’s pie that’s really good. So I love shepherd’s pie. There’s a bok choy chicken, a recipe that I found, so I ended up making it, and it was super good! So either bok choy chicken or shepherd’s pie.
- What is your favorite movie?
So I watch movies all the time. That’s like what I do in my spare time. I’ve seen so many movies. So I don’t know if there’s just one. But Ben-Hur, the new one, I actually really liked that one. I didn’t really know what I was expecting going into it. I saw the new Thor movie. I didn’t think that was going to be good and it was actually a lot better than I thought it was going to be. Marvel, ever since Iron Man, they found the recipe and they just stick with it. They know what works and they stick with it. But even with that story line I thought it was pretty good.