Here is the text of a letter Carol Eckerly wrote to the cross country team in 2009
Hello
University
of Akron
runners,
My
name is Carol Eckerly, and I recently finished up graduate school and my
running eligibility at Akron. I was only fortunate enough to be on the team
for two years because I did my undergraduate work at Miami University
and ran on the team while I was there.
The time that I spent at Akron
was very meaningful to me, and I hope to convey this to you by describing my
story and development as a runner. I
hope that hearing my story will help inspire you to never give up on your goals
regardless of setbacks and to realize that you are capable of accomplishing far
more than you can probably imagine at this point.
I
started running track and cross country in high school and experienced what I
felt was success. I decided to attend Miami and was happy for
the most part with my first cross country season there. However, the winter after my freshman cross
country season I got injured and then continued to suffer an almost constant
string of injuries throughout the three years I spent at Miami. Although I experienced a few “glimmers of hope”
during that time, I never got back to the level where I had been during my
freshman cross country season. There
were many times that I actually ran worse than I had run in my first high school
cross country season. I had lost the joy
in running, and I felt guilty for not living up to what I had expected of
myself and also what I knew others had expected of me.
I
knew I needed a fresh start, so I began searching for graduate schools to use my
remaining two years of eligibility. One
of my teammates at Miami had raced against (and
had usually beat) former Akron
standouts Becki Michael, Morgan Sulzener, and Brandi Shoeppner in high school. However, all three of these runners had been
much more successful than she had been in college. She commented to me at the 2005 MAC cross
country championships (where Akron won the
conference title) that “Akron
must be doing something right!” This led
me to start looking into the program and talking with Coach Jones about the
possibilities for my future.
I
was impressed with Akron’s
program and eventually chose to attend graudate school
there to use my final 2 years of running eligibility. I felt that I had something to prove, and I
believed that the change in schools would just magically make me successful. Initially, I was sorely disappointed when
this did not happen as quickly as I would have liked. I even considered not returning to use my
final year of eligibility. I struggled
in practices and races, my performances declined over the course of the cross
country season, and I was the 9th runner on the team at the MAC cross
country championships. This was a very
frustrating but humbling experience for me, and as a result I made a decision
to change my attitude and to focus on enjoying running again. Of course I still continued to do my best in
training and still be as dedicated as I was before, but I stopped caring what
other people thought of my performances and if I had run over a minute faster
when I was 5 years younger. This was a
turning point for me.
Once
I started to relax, listen to my body, and train for my present level of
fitness rather than the level I wanted to be or had once been, I made rapid
improvements. During my first indoor
season at Akron
I set personal records in the mile and the 3000 and I was pleased with my
training. I still had some
disappointments but overall was happy with my progress. I ended up having an even better outdoor
season where the highlight was winning the MAC championships in the 10,000. I had a few races that outdoor season that I
honestly am still unsure of how I ran so well, but the fact is that I did. I hope this can serve as an example to you
that if you keep plugging away at the training day after day, you can really
surprise yourself with what you are capable of.
That first outdoor track season that I ran for Akron completely made up for all of the
previous heartaches and disappointments I had experienced earlier in my running
career.
I
won’t go into the details of my last year at Akron, but I will just say that for a variety
of circumstances it was not what I had hoped for performance-wise. But that was ok; by this point I had learned
to appreciate each race regardless of outcome and use it as a learning
experience.
Now
that I have pretty much written you a novel, I will close with some advice for
you on how to make the most of your time at Akron.
First, trust Coach Jones. Even
when things aren’t going well, that trust is very important. Also,
don’t get discouraged if you don’t experience immediate results. It will take time for you to adapt to a new
training system, and for some people it will take longer than others. Lastly, remember to relax and not take
things too seriously. By this, I don’t
mean to cut out some of the work you are supposed to do or slack off. But I do mean to enjoy time with your
teammates, learn from your disappointments but don’t dwell on them, and view
each practice and race as an opportunity to better yourself as an athlete and a
person.
Four
years (or five if you are like me J ) of college
running may seem like a long time when you first begin, but it will go by very
quickly. It is a good feeling to know
that you did everything you could to be successful regardless of the final
outcome. I hope that you will take full
advantage of the many opportunities that lay before you, and that your
experience at Akron
will mean as much to you as mine has meant to me.
Carol
Eckerly
Carol's Achievements
Personal Bests
1500m - 4:30.49
Mile - 4:58.75
3000m - 9:58.89
5000m - 16:54.92
10,000m - 35:54.62
MAC Champion
2008 - 10,000m