Photo by Spencer Allen
Former Xavier College Prep runner Jessica Tonn will be writing a weekly blog (schedule permitting) for Arizona Milesplit. While at Xavier Jessica won 2 Cross Country State Titles and 10 Track and Field State Titles winning the 1600 and the 3200 all four years. Jessica also qualified for Foot Locker Nationals all four years finishing with a top 10 finish her junior year.
Jessica holds the Arizona freshman (10:37.23) and sophomore (10:30.23) record in the 3200 and the sophomore record in the 1600 (4:50.42) which is also an Arizona All Time #2 mark. She also has the Arizona #3 all time mark of 10:25.85 in the 3200 and ran a 10:24.47 for 2 miles.
Check back weekly to read JTonn's Milesplit Blog!!
High School Track PR's : College Track PR's
1600: 4:50.42 1500: 4:23.64 (outdoor)
3200: 10:25.85 3,000: 9:10.16 (indoor)
800: 2:14.70 5,000: 15:54.90 (outdoor)
2 Mile: 10:24.57 10,000: 34:41.68 (outdoor)
Hello Milesplit!
Jessica Tonn here, but please call me Jess!
I think it has been almost four years since I have submitted a journal entry to Milesplit. To say I have undergone some changes since then would be quite the understatement. So on that note, I will spare your attention span and eyeballs and deliver you the Sparknote version of the Sparknotes while I re-introduce myself to all you Milespliters.
I am a former AZ Xavier College Prep. distance runner currently in my fourth year (…what?!) at Stanford University. I am studying media relations/communications and am currently pursuing a one-year Master’s program to be completed next year during my “fifth year” at Stanford, while I finish up my remaining eligibility in both Indoor and Outdoor track for 2014 - 2015. I can [finally] say that I am an All-American after placing 16th at the DI NCCA XC championships this past November in Terre Haute, Indiana… Man that feels good!
So, I am sure you are wondering what I am here to talk about and maybe even why you are still reading. I hope to touch on the good and bad, the ups and downs, the triumphs and tribulations that I have faced in my time as a collegiate runner thus far. I also love to write and have some pretty good ideas for some upcoming posts, so I am also here to entertain!
I hope some of you readers are both young and old highschoolers and even freshmen in college because maybe what I am about to write in the paragraphs and even in the weeks to come will assist and encourage you when making the decisions you will soon have to tackle, no matter how significant or minor they may seem. I have been through it all so I am here to help in any way I can!
With that said, where on Earth do I start? Well… I think what is imperative is that you MUST be honest with yourself when it comes to our sport, no matter how young or old you see yourself. This sport can be one of the most brutally honest and unforgiving in so many ways, and the lifestyle that it requires and yields is anything but easy. But as my coach says, “If it were easy, anyone could do it;” and us distance runners aren’t just anyone, right?
Nothing is more exciting and utterly terrifying, in the best possible way of course, than toeing a starting line, no matter the name or reputation any given race may boast. The wave of emotions and the feeling(s) you have before the gun fires are some of the most powerful, and are so unique to racing that you won’t experience them at any other moment in time. These are the few seconds, before the start of a race, in which you are the most honest with yourself - you know if you have done absolutely everything right both in and out of practice. This is when you know if you have cut corners or not, and this can be either the best motivator or the most intimidating precursor to any race. The scary part is knowing you have done everything right, can sometimes be just as scary as knowing there are some things you could have done better.
With each racing experience, you learn to manage the nerves that come with knowing you have done everything right in your preparation. Trust me, I know how intimidating it is to go into a race thinking you have done everything you can to prepare for the 6k (or 5k) that may lay ahead, but I eventually learned how to translate this into confidence. This confidence that comes out of each race and each solid performance then translates into solid workouts and racing consistently at a high level. You owe it to yourself to go into each race with that unbreakable confidence and belief in yourself because when you toe that line with that chip on your shoulder, no one can stop you… not even your own mind!
This is something I know now, after acquiring almost four years of running collegiately under my belt. As I revisit freshman year in my mind and I can vividly identify the smaller and larger corners that I may have cut in regard to stretching, sleep, hydration, nutrition, ice bathing, foam rolling, etc. The problem was that I wasn’t actively and consciously making decisions on a daily basis that would directly affect my running in a positive way and unfortunately, these poor habits transitioned into sophomore year. After two years of coming up short in the first half of my collegiate running career I had enough. Although our program underwent two coaching changes, the third coaching change and Junior year generated huge changes in my approach to the sport – in both my preparation and attitude.
Coach Miltenberg took on the head track and field coaching position my Junior year at Stanford. Almost immediately, he revived my love for running in so many ways that I couldn’t possibly fill these paragraphs with all of them, but I will shed light on an important few. First and foremost, he made me look into the mirror. As cliché as it sounds, the “short cuts” and the “cut corners” I mentioned above were now made more identifiable because I was forced to address them head on. I had to be honest with myself in regard to the way I was living my life not as a student, but as an athlete. In a place like Stanford it is hard not to label yourself solely as an academic. But at the level at which I hoped and wanted to compete, I needed to fully dedicate my time off the cross country course and the track to being a full time, big time runner. This is when everything changed.
Accountability can mean so many things. In our sport it means your coaches holding you accountable, your teammates holding you accountable and vice versa, but most importantly, it means you holding yourself accountable. This was something that Coach Milt instilled in every one of us almost right away. After this change I saw a change in my approach and the approach of my teammates to almost everything – practice, workouts and race preparation in addition to our attitude towards practicing, working out and most importantly, racing. I found myself not only doing all the little things right (sleep, nutrition, ice bathing, foam rolling, weights, stretching etc.), but wanting to do all the little things right. The minute I saw that this new mindset I adopted translated into killer workouts and races, BOOM. It was over, and there was no turning back.
Training well is fun and racing well is even more fun. However, I am a full believer in having as much fun outside of practice and racing as I do when I am training and competing. I am the type of runner and I have always been the type of runner that needs other stimuli in my life – family, friends both on and off the team, hobbies, etc. On the weekends, your off day each week, and during the few hours during each day that you aren’t a runner (well… you know what I mean here), take classes that excited you, be with people that excited you, and do things that excite you just as much as our sport does. Balance is important!!
Until next time, be well, run well, happy New Year, and have FUN! Thanks for reading and hopefully I will see you back here next week! In the mean time, get on top of all of those little things you could be doing better… I will, too! ;)
- Jess
Also, please don’t hesitate to e-mail me with any questions/comments/concerns/thoughts at jtonn92@stanford.edu!
