Hey MaineTrackXc world! For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Hannah Steelman, and I’m a junior that runs cross country and outdoor track for Orono High School. I’m so excited to be blogging throughout the season..
I’ve always loved to run. As a little girl, I would always race my friends across the field during recess. I loved running the mile during P.E., and I was always begging my dad to sign me up for road races. That passion for running followed me to my middle school years, and in 6th grade, I tried cross country. I didn’t really know what it was all about going into it, but I left after that first practice loving it. Throughout my three middle school years in a small town in Indiana, I had some successful cross country and track seasons. I was already training with the high school cross country team during the summer before my freshman year, in preparation for the upcoming fall season. Then, I got the news that my family and I were moving to Maine. I wasn’t all that excited at first, to be completely honest. I had already moved from state to state four times before Maine, so I was kind of used to transitioning to a new area. After getting all settled into our new home, I started to put myself out there and I met some genuine people (one of them being Kassidy Dill, my current teammate and bestie). Preseason started soon after, our cross country coach, Coach White, gave each of us a piece of paper that asked a few questions. One of those questions was, “What is your favorite workout/run?” It didn’t take me long to write down, “Hills.” Kassidy looked at my paper then back at me, with a look that said, “Are you crazy?” --I was from Indiana, which is part of the plains of America, so hills were rare and hill workouts were a special occasion.-- Maine is very different from Indiana. Hills are everywhere. After our first hill workout of the season, I started to realize why Kassidy gave me the look she did on the first day of preseason. By the end of the season, however, hills were growing on me, and today, I’m better at running up a hill than I’ve ever been. I have so many memories that will always be so dear to me because of this awesome sport. I just love running.
With all that being said, let’s talk about this summer. Man oh man has this summer been a busy one. Cross country one day, basketball the next, then track after that. Training and prepping myself for this fall would include group summer runs, with my team and others who wanted to get some good milage in, every Tuesday and Thursday evenings. On Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, I would usually meet up with some friends of mine and go for some kind of run, whether it be a quick tempo or a long, conversation-pace run. The days when I ran alone were usually the tougher days, including workouts on the track or hills in the woods, etc. Sundays were usually my day off, unless I had already had one earlier in the week. Earlier in the summer, I traveled to New York City with family, and I tried to hit the hotel gym every night and get a few miles in on the treadmill. Later in the summer, when I traveled down to South Carolina, I would convince some of my close friends down there to join me on my runs. Every run down south would be in weather somewhere close to 100 degrees, which really got me sweating, but still felt so good. When I returned home, it was blackout period so that meant no more team runs organized by coaches, so we put it in our own hands to gather as many people as possible from our team to go out for runs every week day around mid-afternoon. They were very good for us, not just the running, but the team bonding as well. I also ran a road race this past weekend in Belfast. It was a very busy summer, and it sure did fly by. But, it all led to this; preseason. I can’t complain about that.
Cross country is finally upon us! I’m so excited to see what this season brings. Running for Orono has been a blast these past two years, and each season it seems to get better and better. We lost some very talented runners such as Lily Koffman, Svenja Linder, Annika Gallandt, and Anna Ellis, who were all part of our top 7 in Easterns and/or States. We’re also gaining talent this year, and I know we’re all anxious for the first meet to get here so we can see what our new teammates can do. In Class C, there are some great teams that are going to challenge us. Competition is fun! It would be a dream to 3-peat a state title. We’ve got to work really hard, and we’ll see where it brings us. Needless to say, I am very pumped for this season and I’m excited to write all about it throughout the fall. This season, I would really love to break that 19 barrier and shoot for sub a sub 18:50 5k early on, and continue to improve from there. My main goal is to just go out and run my hardest every race. No matter the end result, I just want to finish every race knowing that I did my best and pushed myself to my max potential. To the incoming freshmen and all of those new to cross country this year, 3.1 miles is different from 1.6 (or whatever y’all ran in middle school), and that can be a little intimidating. I promise you that the transition to a 5k in races isn’t as bad as it may sound. Eventually, you get used to it and going out and racing a 5k will sound great (at least, to me it does)! Just work your hardest, really push yourself, but also, be smart, know your limits, because injuries are no fun. Running can definitely hurt sometimes, and you’ll get tired. Make sure to hydrate well and stay positive, because I believe negativity can affect your race. Ever heard the phrase “Running is a mental sport”? It’s true! Running is both a physical and mental sport, so push yourself in both aspect. Overall, have FUN!
I hope preseason goes well for all of you, and best of luck to all of those competing this year. I’ll see some of y’all on the courses. Happy running!
