School: Desert Mountain
Your name: Connor Heron
Q: What does your training look like right now given the current situation?
A: Given the current situation, I've been continuing my training on my own, putting in miles from my house and getting some work in on the track. Training without my teammates has been difficult, but my family has been extremely helpful and they've biked along with me for my longer runs! Motivation is a little tough to come by but I've just kept at it and I'm hopeful that we'll get a chance to show off our hard work later in the season.
Q: What are you doing to stay busy other than run right now?
A: Besides online school, I've been spending lots of time with my family, reading, drawing, and playing way too much Animal Crossing.
Q: What was your most memorable race/moment?
A: One of my most memorable moments was breaking our school's 4x800 record and going sub-8 with my teammates/dear friends. We all put in our best efforts and accomplished something great at the last meet of our season together. It was an incredible feeling.
Q: What was the funniest thing that happened during your running career?
A: There have been too many hilarious moments with my team to choose just one, but cross country locker room antics always brightened my mornings. Slip n' slides in the shower, the bath on wheels, and the wagon were particularly memorable. IYKYK.
Q: Who would you consider your biggest competition over your four years?
A: Shoutout to Kenny Edwards of Campo Verde. Love that guy. The best thing about track and cross country is that just about everyone you meet is both competitive and friendly, and the camaraderie among runners is something I'll always value.
Q: What was your greatest accomplishment?
A: I would consider my greatest accomplishment to be guiding and mentoring our younger athletes. I'll always be grateful for having the privilege of seeing their growth and success every single day. Our team is a family and I'm incredibly thankful for the opportunities I've had to lead them. Racing-wise, I'm very proud of my PR 5k junior year. I raced my heart out and it killed my immune system for the following two weeks. Totally worth it.
Q: If you could do it all over again what would you change about your running career in high school?
A: The only thing I would change would be to avoid injury my senior year. I missed out on my final high school cross country season, and that's something that I'll always regret, but the silver lining was that I got to watch all my boys (and girls) race! Besides injuries, I wouldn't change a thing. It's been a wild and amazing ride.
Q: What were the most difficult obstacles you had to overcome?
A: The most difficult obstacles I've had to overcome were by far and away injuries my senior year. It's incredibly demoralizing to miss out on training and racing, but I poured my efforts into getting healthy, cross-training, and getting back out there, and here we are :)
Division II Boys' 2019 XC State Championship - Connor took 11th overall.
Q: What will you miss the most?
A: Definitely the people. Our team is a family and I love them dearly; I consider all my teammates my brothers and sisters and I can't wait to see what amazing things they accomplish in the future. I've made some of the most important friendships of my life these past four years (yes, that means you guys too Coach Kevin and Coach Nate) and that's something that will be hard to be away from. I'll just have to come back and visit a lot :)