Senior Seaums White from Hamilton High School is our next Watch List athlete.
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Journal Questions:
Name: Seamus White (Seamus's Milesplit Profile)
High School:
Hamilton High School
Year of Graduation: 2015
Best time in a 5K and a 3 Mile Race:
5k: 16:05.26 (Chandler Invitational on September 6th, 2014
3 Mile: 15:46.9 (Sole Sports on September 2nd, 2013)
When did you get started as a runner:
Back in the day when I was a mere 8th grader, my P.E. class had to run around this field (roughly 800m). At first, my opinion of running wasn’t all that high, but I ran JUST TO GET IT DONE. That day, I finished 4th in my P.E. class. I then began to question where that had come from… For the rest of my 8th grade year, I finished 1st every day when it came to that. It came around to the start of the 4th quarter of my 8th grade year and my P.E. coach had asked me if I did cross country. My response was something along the lines of, “What is cross country?”
It came around to the start of my freshman year; I did a few summer offseason workouts with my soon-to-be team. After week one, I lost interest in the sport and decided not to do it… Three days before the official season started, my dad came and talked to me about it. He convinced me to give it a try, and if I didn’t like it after three weeks, he said I could quit.
That day never came!
Which meets will you be running this year?
Chandler Invitational
Fountain Hills
Four Corners
Doug Conley
Twilight
Chandler City Meet
Division 1-Section 1 Sectionals
Division 1 State Meet
Maybe FootLocker too…
What are your goals for the upcoming track season? What do you look forward to the most?
I would like to go through the remainder of the season injury-free… That would be really nice. As far as anything else goes, I’m mainly looking forward to running Twilight this year since I had missed out on it last year due to my hip injury. With a brand-new course, it should be all that much more competitive too!
How is your summer training going? Your favorite workout? What kind of summer mileage do you run?
Over the summer, I started out running 35-40 miles per week and then moved up to running 45-50 by the end. One week in there I had run 65 miles at Anasazi Training Camp. My favorite workout is, without a doubt, mile repeats; the more the better!
Do you cross train (lift, swim, bike etc)?
I have occasionally biked to practices in the past for variation. At times during the offseason, we have done pool workouts—they get pretty intense! As far as lifting goes, I have enrolled in a weight-training class at Hamilton; we lift three days a week.
That all came on over the course of two years, but the one thing that has stayed constant throughout my life has been the five sit-ups I do every morning. It may not seem like much, but one can only press the snooze button so many times!
Do you follow any kind of nutrition program or watch what you eat?
I have stuck to a vegetarian diet my whole life (funny story- ask me if you want to know the details). Other than that, I stay away from soda all of the time and unhealthy food most of the time. The one thing I can’t resist is a good bag of pretzels—they get me every time!
Have you ever been injured?
I have not gone a single cross country season without getting injured…
Freshman year it was shin splints.
Sophomore year it was plantar fasciitis.
Junior year it was a hip injury that came out of nowhere upon warming up for the Doug Conley Invitational.
As far as my senior year goes, so far so good...
So far in your high school career, what is your favorite cross country race or cross country memory?
It definitely has to be Ragnar Del Sol (February 21-22, 2014). Not only did our team win, we set a course record as well! It was really cool that we gathered the best runners in our area and made a dream-team. On top of all of that, our team name was the best part! Free Candy was our name and if you know Ragnar, you get these big, white vans. The looks we got from people as our van, with ‘Free Candy’ painted on each side, were nothing short of priceless!
What is the best part of running?
To me, the best part of running is pushing through the pain of the ‘wall’ at the mid-point of each race; fighting on until the very end, and leaving nothing out on the course. It all makes finishing that much more rewarding!
Out of all your running accomplishments so far, which stands out the most?
That’s a tough question… Probably placing fourth (16:36 was my time) in the frosh-soph race at FootLocker my sophomore year. The more I look back at it, the more I appreciate what I did.
When you are not running what do you like to do?
When I’m not running, I am usually at school or doing homework and staying ahead with my studies as far as I can (yeah, I’m kind of a nerd, lol). When all of my work is done, I like to hang out with friends or play Minecraft on my xbox.
How have your coaches influenced you overall?
All of my coaches I have ever had have influenced me in a positive way; overall, they’ve all guided me in the right direction.
Shout outs?
1- Shout-Out to you for reading this, you’re awesome!
2- Shout-Out to all of my Ragnar teammates!
3- Shout-Out to all of the volunteers and helpers for our Ragnar team!
4- Shout-Out to Margot Kelly for giving me the opportunity to be on the watch list again this year!
5- Shout-Out to Cade Burks for giving possibly the funniest answers on his watch list.
6- Shout-Out to the people I met at Anasazi Training Camp- This one’s for you, Patrick… Dream Team!
8- Shout-Out to you again for reading this far down, you continue to be awesome!
9- Shout-Out to all of my hard-working teammates over the years- especially you Dahlak; keep it up!
10- Shout-Out to my family for being there and for making me the person I am today
11- Shout-Out to my dad who really got me going with all of this running stuff. I wouldn’t be running and you probably wouldn’t be reading this if it weren’t for him!
12- Shout-Out to all that noticed that number 7 is missing. (you looked, didn’t you?)
Quick 6:
123456… Whoa! That was some pretty quick counting! I know this wasn’t a question, but still, dang!
Favorite Post-race Meal?
CHOCOLATE MILK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Kind of shoes you train in?
I stick to Saucony and Asics. Right now I train in these really cool, blue Saucony Guide 7’s
Flat course or hills?
I prefer a hilly course, but I’ll face whatever challenge lies in my way!
Facebook or Twitter?
Facebook; go add me if you’d like!
Hot or cold weather?
Cold weather@ :D
Favorite song at the moment?
"Hero" by Skillet