Episode 54 - Carmen Graves
Carmen went to Roanoke College with the intention to play soccer as that was the sport she was recruited for. She eventually joined the track team after being asked by the coach. As a naturally talented athlete, Carmen was able to pick up new events quickly. While she was a pure track runner, her fall soccer conditioning helped her get into fitness for the track season. Slowly but surely her coaches kept adding to her training and she found her speciality was in the 800.
Carmen quickly rose to the national level in the 800 with qualifying for the 800 her Sophomore year. Unfortunately, she finished the dreaded 9th, meaning she was the first one out of the final. This proved to be her motivation as she never missed another 800m final after that.
Her senior year, she wanted to break school records and eventually tried the Steeplechase. Her coach saw her naturally ability shine through but was put on the back burner as the focus was still the 800.
After college, Carmen pursued running as she wanted to keep the dream alive. She so quick success in both the 5k and Steeple. She brought her 5k PR down to 16:09 and her Steeple to 9:49.
Her love/hate relationship with running has taken out and brought her back into the sport many times. The latest is when the Pandemic hit, she decided to give running another shot. She ended up qualifying for the Trials this year. A similar story to college, she was the first one out of the final. As looks to the big meets coming up, Carmen has a great outlook on running and a nice shiny new PR of a 9:41 Steeple.
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