On November 30 in Charlotte, University senior Amelia Paladino became the first West Virginia girl to qualify twice for the Foot Locker National Final in San Diego. Her second-place finish in the South regional guaranteed the two-time state Class AAA cross country champion one of the 40 starting spots in the 5,000-meter race on December 14 at Balboa Park.
Entry #1, Dec. 8, 2013
Hello everyone! It’s a snowy Sunday here in Morgantown, West Virginia! About a week ago from today, I was the first girl ever in the state of West Virginia to qualify twice for Foot Locker XC Nationals! I had the wonderful opportunity to go last year, and it was one of the best experiences of my life. Leaving San Diego last year, I vowed to myself that I was going to go back. And with the help of a few people along the way, I made it! I guess now is a good time to give those people a special thanks.
First of all, I owe an enormous shout out to my mom. She has always been a fighter and determined to make things happen. She taught me how to work hard for what I want and how to have confidence in myself to achieve it.
Then comes my twin brother, Andy. Not only is he my second half, but he is my biggest fan. Because I am fairly successful as a runner, he gets brushed to the side a bit, but he will always be happy for me no matter what, and for that, I owe him everything.
And then of course there are my coaches. My high school coach Ed Frohnapfel puts his heart and soul into the team. I think it can be very easy to get caught up in one really fast athlete, but he is devoted to every single runner on the team, making sure each and everyone of us become better runners. My other coach is Jonathon Wright, who I train with once the season is over. (It’s a policy in West Virginia that you cannot train with your high school coach in the offseason, which is both a hassle and a blessing.) He, like my high school coach, is extremely devoted to the sport, but he does it completely voluntarily. I owe half of my success to these .jpg)
two guys because I wouldn’t be where I am without them. It is very easy to run for people who do everything they can for you to succeed, and that is why I am where I am. And then of course there is God! Part of life is figuring out what gifts you are given and then learning how to use them. I believe running is one of mine, and I just hope that with it I can somehow give back.
So anyways, I guess I should begin at the start of all of this. Last year at Foot Locker South when I placed 10th qualifying myself for Nationals with one of my friends, Maggie Drazba who placed third, I was in shock. I remember as a sophomore at Foot Locker regionals thinking, “I’ll never make it there”, as I watched the top 10 girls receive their medals. But then all of a sudden, that was me! It was me getting on the plane to San Diego, it was me meeting all of these famous runners and it was me sitting at the breakfast table with this community of people who loved to do the same thing I did!
And that is the beauty of Foot Locker - you are surrounded by people who are just like you! I don’t know about everyone, but for me the life of a long-distance runner is a lonely one. I rarely have anyone else to run with, and if I do, it is very brief. I do have a wonderful team, but like I mentioned, once the season is over, so is that. But being in the beautiful place doing something I loved to do had me determined to make it back. And thus began a year of very hard training. In the winter after Foot Locker, I was putting in about 50-60 miles a week while doing two workouts and some core work. Some of the hardest workouts consisted of 5x1 mile repeats, 4-mile tempo runs, 8x800 meters. The times are all relative depending on where I was working out. Then the spring came around and with it track season. I was back with my high school coach putting in around 50 miles a week with three workouts and racing just about every week. My high school coach loves tempo runs, and so we did plenty of 4-mile tempos. Also during the spring we work on a lot of speed work, with workouts like 12x400m and mile cutdowns. In the summer, I was more or less by myself, just getting in some mileage about 60-65 per week and only doing a few workouts as XC season approaches!
This brings us to my senior cross country season … I hope you are still following. At the beginning of this season, I told my coaches that I want to make it back to Foot Locker, and we adjusted training accordingly. Again I was running around 50-60 miles per week, but let me tell you, some of those workouts were brutal. Some of my fondest were the 5-mile tempo at 5:50 pace, 3x1 mile cutdowns with 4x400m to follow, and of course because this is West Virginia after all, hill repeats!
I didn’t race as much this season because we had San Diego to remember. States passed, and I was extremely proud of my team for their performances, especially the boys who are the new 2013 state champions of West Virginia led by none other than my twin, Andy! But then after states, I said goodbye to Ed, my high school coach, and began working with Jonathon again. This brings a slight shift in my training because I go back down to two workouts a week but definitely get in more mileage. Some of the workouts I did to prepare for Foot Locker South were 10x500m at race pace with 30 seconds jogging/30 seconds standing in between, 10x1 minute hill repeats and, just before the race, a 1200m at race pace with 4x400m around 71s.
This brings us to Foot Locker regionals ... I hope you are still following. I was intense partly because my older sister came with us, and she is a handful partly because we couldn’t find anyone to watch our dog (a toy poodle) so we brought her with us and snuck her into the hotel (shhh) and of course partly because I had a huge race ahead of me that I had trained very hard for. Well, it was definitely a wonderful day given by God! I placed second and broke the state record for the 5K in WV! But the most important part was that I qualified, and that I got to share that accomplishment with my family and my coaches. After all, where would I be without them! So this week, I am just focusing on Nationals. There are a few things I hope to accomplish while I am there. Of course, I would love to race well and even perhaps get All-American, but I would also like to just have fun with my South team, who is made up of a wonderful group of girls! And most importantly I would like to glorify God in what I do there next weekend. I hope to help out my team in every way I can and run the race I know I have in me!
