Post by elp525 on Jun 1, 2010 5:06:24 GMT -5
Thursday July 1, 2010
by Mike Casazza
Daily Mail sports writer
MORGANTOWN - Normal, as defined by Clara Grandt, is anything but that.
Take her hobby as an example. She's a redshirt senior on West Virginia's track and field team, which is normal, particularly if you're from the state, as are 35 of its 55 members.
Yet Grandt's particular discipline is the 10,000 meters, the longest event in her sport. How long? You could say 6.2 miles. Or you could say running back Noel Devine has run for 3,382 yards in his WVU football career - about one-third of what Grandt runs in one event.
Grandt has a shot at acquiring the same type of fame when she and four teammates compete in the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships June 9-12, in Eugene, Ore. Grandt qualified with her performance in the 10K over the weekend.
She didn't merely qualify, though. She won her race at the Eastern Regional in Greensboro, N.C.
Granted, she didn't have to. The top 12 advance to the national championship and Grandt was there from the moment the race really took shape and all the way to the end. She could have paced herself but decided to push, surging into the top six, then to the head of the pack and, when a challenge came late, first across the finish line.
"I'm just a competitive person," said the West Union native and graduate of Doddridge County High School. "If first place is there, I'm going to take it."
At that point, why not? The team was to leave last Tuesday for the meet that would begin two days later. Grandt got up early that day and "did a normal run by myself."
Normal is a 10-mile tour before making the six-hour trip to Greensboro. Her athletic peers at WVU travel on private planes, commercial flights and charter buses. The track team rolled into the regional in minivans rented from Enterprise.
The Mountaineers stopped once and a few decided to eat. Good luck getting the proper nourishment on the side of the road. Normally it's subs from Subway or Sheetz, though Grandt opted for a peanut butter-and-jelly sandwich from Sheetz.
The team arrived and then practiced Wednesday. Grandt was fortunate her event was scheduled for Thursday night. When the meet began that afternoon, the temperature was floating around 90 degrees. By the time Grandt stepped on the track it was after 9 p.m. and a little cooler. The weather continued to change and a storm started to sweep in and bring with it a breeze.
"That was refreshing," Grandt said. "It was still pretty humid and it definitely affected the runners."
Grandt had an edge and one she'd created by her own choice. While she trains with socks, she actually races with nothing between her feet and shoes. On a warm occasion when feet and legs sweat and soak even the best water resistant socks, it can make a difference.
"I like to keep my feet as cool as possible and I like to feel fast and feel like I don't have anything weighing me down," she said.
"I just like to feel comfortable. It's probably more mental than anything else."
Grandt started out with 47 others and predicted it'd be a slower, more tactical race than normal. With 12 qualifying, the urgency wouldn't be where it usually is. She sat in a pack and let others run their race, familiar with the faces of those surrounding and passing her. She stayed inside and made a series of moves until she was in the lead pack with a mile or so remaining.
Her pace had dropped below a five-minute mile and she was racing with two others with 1,200 meters left. She made a move and was clear with 800 meters remaining before holding off a final challenge and pulling away to finish in 34:29.86.
Winning wasn't a great surprise, except that before the race she'd told her coach, Sean Cleary, she wouldn't run to win and didn't want to wear herself out with the big meet coming up two weeks later.
"But it wasn't taking too much out of me," she said. "So I went for it."
She was quick to replace whatever she'd lost in the race. Water and Gatorade are normally rushed to the finishers. Grandt prefers chocolate milk. On a steamy night. After running 10,000 meters in under 35 minutes.
"It's a good recovery drink, actually," she said. "It's got the right mixture of fats and sugars and helps boost your levels back up."
Hard to argue her logic, which when coupled with an ice bath and factored into how relatively easy the race went had Grandt back to normal by the time she returned to Morgantown Sunday. Normally, Grandt's body needs about a week to recover.
She did her regular routine Monday, which is one 30-minute run and one 70-minute run. In a few days the bruises on her arms will disappear.
"Forty-eight people on the line is quite a bit of people running around the track and I was bouncing around in the middle of that," she said.
She'll continue her routines and keep things the same as ever while trying to stay out of the sun and preserving as much of her energy as she can.
She'll travel to Oregon next week - by plane, this time - with teammates Keri Bland (seventh in 1,500), a former North Marion runner, Karly Hamric (eighth in 1,500) a former Preston runner, Marie-Louise Asselin (sixth in 5,000) and Katelyn Williams (11th in high jump).
Grandt goes with a national championship purpose, though. She's run against everyone she'll see there and has beaten "pretty much" everyone in the field.
"I won't say it can't happen," she said. "I can say second is definitely realistic and first would be just unbelievable."
by Mike Casazza
Daily Mail sports writer
MORGANTOWN - Normal, as defined by Clara Grandt, is anything but that.
Take her hobby as an example. She's a redshirt senior on West Virginia's track and field team, which is normal, particularly if you're from the state, as are 35 of its 55 members.
Yet Grandt's particular discipline is the 10,000 meters, the longest event in her sport. How long? You could say 6.2 miles. Or you could say running back Noel Devine has run for 3,382 yards in his WVU football career - about one-third of what Grandt runs in one event.
Grandt has a shot at acquiring the same type of fame when she and four teammates compete in the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships June 9-12, in Eugene, Ore. Grandt qualified with her performance in the 10K over the weekend.
She didn't merely qualify, though. She won her race at the Eastern Regional in Greensboro, N.C.
Granted, she didn't have to. The top 12 advance to the national championship and Grandt was there from the moment the race really took shape and all the way to the end. She could have paced herself but decided to push, surging into the top six, then to the head of the pack and, when a challenge came late, first across the finish line.
"I'm just a competitive person," said the West Union native and graduate of Doddridge County High School. "If first place is there, I'm going to take it."
At that point, why not? The team was to leave last Tuesday for the meet that would begin two days later. Grandt got up early that day and "did a normal run by myself."
Normal is a 10-mile tour before making the six-hour trip to Greensboro. Her athletic peers at WVU travel on private planes, commercial flights and charter buses. The track team rolled into the regional in minivans rented from Enterprise.
The Mountaineers stopped once and a few decided to eat. Good luck getting the proper nourishment on the side of the road. Normally it's subs from Subway or Sheetz, though Grandt opted for a peanut butter-and-jelly sandwich from Sheetz.
The team arrived and then practiced Wednesday. Grandt was fortunate her event was scheduled for Thursday night. When the meet began that afternoon, the temperature was floating around 90 degrees. By the time Grandt stepped on the track it was after 9 p.m. and a little cooler. The weather continued to change and a storm started to sweep in and bring with it a breeze.
"That was refreshing," Grandt said. "It was still pretty humid and it definitely affected the runners."
Grandt had an edge and one she'd created by her own choice. While she trains with socks, she actually races with nothing between her feet and shoes. On a warm occasion when feet and legs sweat and soak even the best water resistant socks, it can make a difference.
"I like to keep my feet as cool as possible and I like to feel fast and feel like I don't have anything weighing me down," she said.
"I just like to feel comfortable. It's probably more mental than anything else."
Grandt started out with 47 others and predicted it'd be a slower, more tactical race than normal. With 12 qualifying, the urgency wouldn't be where it usually is. She sat in a pack and let others run their race, familiar with the faces of those surrounding and passing her. She stayed inside and made a series of moves until she was in the lead pack with a mile or so remaining.
Her pace had dropped below a five-minute mile and she was racing with two others with 1,200 meters left. She made a move and was clear with 800 meters remaining before holding off a final challenge and pulling away to finish in 34:29.86.
Winning wasn't a great surprise, except that before the race she'd told her coach, Sean Cleary, she wouldn't run to win and didn't want to wear herself out with the big meet coming up two weeks later.
"But it wasn't taking too much out of me," she said. "So I went for it."
She was quick to replace whatever she'd lost in the race. Water and Gatorade are normally rushed to the finishers. Grandt prefers chocolate milk. On a steamy night. After running 10,000 meters in under 35 minutes.
"It's a good recovery drink, actually," she said. "It's got the right mixture of fats and sugars and helps boost your levels back up."
Hard to argue her logic, which when coupled with an ice bath and factored into how relatively easy the race went had Grandt back to normal by the time she returned to Morgantown Sunday. Normally, Grandt's body needs about a week to recover.
She did her regular routine Monday, which is one 30-minute run and one 70-minute run. In a few days the bruises on her arms will disappear.
"Forty-eight people on the line is quite a bit of people running around the track and I was bouncing around in the middle of that," she said.
She'll continue her routines and keep things the same as ever while trying to stay out of the sun and preserving as much of her energy as she can.
She'll travel to Oregon next week - by plane, this time - with teammates Keri Bland (seventh in 1,500), a former North Marion runner, Karly Hamric (eighth in 1,500) a former Preston runner, Marie-Louise Asselin (sixth in 5,000) and Katelyn Williams (11th in high jump).
Grandt goes with a national championship purpose, though. She's run against everyone she'll see there and has beaten "pretty much" everyone in the field.
"I won't say it can't happen," she said. "I can say second is definitely realistic and first would be just unbelievable."
