Glory Days: If I had to do it all over again...

I would still choose to attend UNLV to finish out my collegiate running career. Coming out of junior college, I admit, I wasn't too focused on what a four-year institution could offer me academically. Hell, UNLV didn't even have a dedicated Journalism degree at the time I went. Instead, I wanted to find a school where I could finish with some kind of degree, was close to home, and allowed me to be a competitive part of the cross-country and track teams.

Several division II and NAIA schools offered me athletic scholarships. Some very competitive division II schools, at that. But DII felt like a junior-varsity decision. I’d already been through the junior college athletic circus. If I was going to continue running in college, I wanted to go big or go home. If I couldn’t compete at the division I level, then to me, I should hang up my spikes and stick to local 5Ks.

I should note here that I was by no means a standout athlete in junior college. I mean, I was a big fish in a small pond: I set my junior college school record for the steeplechase, garnered a few all-region honors, and qualified for nationals in both cross and track. BUT: I was never an All-American, never a region title-holder, never even a major invitational title holder. And I should also mention that there are a ton of DII, DIII and NAIA runners who could have killed me in races. For some reason, though, I still wanted to go division I. I was not hitting DI scholarship times, but I did have solid walk-on times. (In fact, one of my most vivid junior college running memories was when Walt Drenth of Arizona State called me at home and invited me to walk-on – but Arizona State was out for a few reasons: 1) Each of the handful of girls I knew who walked-on to ASU’s team after junior college quit after their first season of cross. Transitioning from a JC to a nationally competitive DI team like ASU was not without its challenges. A lot of the JC girls quit from injury or burnout. 2) The other girls that quit was a result from being so far down on the roster that they never had a prayer of making the travel team. And putting such intense mileage in day after day without competing is a tough thing to do, mentally and physically).

SO: after a handful of considerations, UNLV it was. And even though in some ways, it may have been the easy choice (I knew coming in I would likely be the #2 runner even as a walk-on), I still had the thrill of being a DI collegiate athlete. Everything that came with it: higher level of training, access to better facilities, a team of trainers, coaches, doctors at my fingertips. Now instead of lining up against the ASU girls as a junior-college nobody, I was legit competition. I was a peer. I broke my own personal records at UNLV, and competed at the highest level possible. I also got my ass handed to me so many times in races, I thought I should just start carrying it around. But I can tell you this now looking back: I’d much rather have my ass handed to me by division I competitor than being a pack-leader against lower-tier schools.

That’s just my personal outlook. Like I said, there are a ton of amazing athletes, Olympic-caliber athletes, even, that come out of DII and DIII schools. But I was never going to be an Olympic-caliber athlete. My running high ended with college graduation. I rode my dream as far as I could. On the way, I got an education, made lifelong friends, and travelled almost every weekend for the thrill of competition.

Hey, I think I even stole a medicine ball or two from the weight room.

So, what else could I have possibly asked for?