Runner earns athletic honor
Utah Statesman: Where are you from and what’s your major?
Tiffany Strickland: I am from Orem and I am majoring in elementary education. I’m a senior this year, so I have a semester of student teaching after this year. I’m almost done.
US: How long have you been running cross country?
TS: I ran four years in high school and this will be my fourth year in college. Going on eight years in cross country.
US: What’s your best race time?
TS: Times are really hard to compare because every course is different, but I think so far, my best race was at West Regionals last year in Colorado where I took 23rd in our region. Tough region and I probably ran my fastest time there.
US: For those unfamiliar with cross country competitions, what does a normal race entail?
TS: A normal race is usually run on golf courses or in big parks and it’s 3.8 miles for women. Normally, they’ll just have a course set up throughout the park. You run on anything from dirt to gravel to grass – sod, bark, whatever. You normally do short grass.
US: What sort of training regimen do you go through?
TS: Right now we’re running about 60 miles a week. I guess just average it out it’s different every day. We have one long run a week, so about 14 miles or 12 miles or something. We’ve been doing that all summer. We’ll start on the next phase of our training, which is a little more speed training. It’ll just be faster, shorter segments.
US: What do you do to prepare for a race?
TS: For one, the most important thing is that I just try to relax, because I always get nervous. I try not to, but I always do. I think the most important thing for me is to try to relax. I always go over the race course in my mind so I have some sort of plan of where I’m going – to kind of make my move or make my final push. I think just going over the race in my head, going over the course in my head and planning on where I’m going to do what.
US: What brought you here to USU?
TS: Well, I wanted to be a teacher, so obviously the elementary education program. Then running – I just kind of fell upon the opportunity.
US: What’s the best feeling you’ve gotten after finishing a race?
TS: I think the best feeling I’ve had after a race was last year in track. I went to West Regionals also and I finished third, which would ensure me a spot at nationals. More than anything, I think I felt the best that day because I did something I would have never ever ever imagined would happen. I don’t know, I guess a couple things just went well for me that day. When I came here to Utah State, I would have never dreamed of going to nationals ever. That was the day I think I felt I accomplished something I never thought I could.
US: Where was your favorite course and why?
TS: I think for cross country, it’s a course in Terre Haute, Ind., where they hold the pre-nationals and national race. I really like it because you can watch the entire race from one spot. It’s in a big field and there’s just a bunch of great runners there. It is always a very competitive race. I don’t know exactly why – I’ve had two good races there, so I just feel confident with the course.
US: Why cross country?
TS: Well basically, I’m a distance runner, so you have to run … well, you don’t have to run, but if you’re a distance runner you run cross country and run distance in track. You really don’t have a choice. You have to do them both.
US: Do you have any lifetime goals that involve running?
TS: No, I don’t think so. I wanted to come to Utah State and do what I could do here and accomplish what I could accomplish. I think when I’m done here, I’ll just run for fun. But I want running to be life-long … you know. I don’t think I’ll think I’ll run competitively or run a marathon. I might do a couple triathlons, but that’s biking and swimming also.
US: What’s your goal for this coming season?
TS: Really, I don’t know that I have a personal goal in mind, but I’d really like our team to go to nationals for the first time. That is probably the most important thing, or the thing that’s on my mind and the thing that motivates me while I’m training – hope that we can get there.
US: What motivates you out on the course?
TS: That’s a good question. I think that one thing that motivates me is that I don’t like to get beat by people I know I can run with. So it’s just motivation in itself, when you see someone running next to you. It’s competitiveness – I don’t want to get beat. Then also motivation to satisfy yourself or have satisfaction in what you’ve done.
US: Do you ever get a runner’s high? What does it feel like?
TS: You can get a runner’s high when you’re done with a race and you think you’ve done really well. You know, you feel great. I’ve had that – that feels great and that’s also a huge motivator. Then you run well and how you feel after is just enormous. Keeps you going. And then another type of runner’s high is when you’ve been running for a really, really long time and you just kind of go numb and you just don’t feel anything. Then you just run and it’s totally fine.
You hope you don’t just fall over and die.
-tathornley@cc.usu.edu