North Carolina State University Athletics
'It's Been Worth It' (4/6/09)
4/6/2009 12:00:00 AM | Pack Athletics
Bona Jones began her highly decorated career at NC State three years ago.
If I were asked to draw a picture of the pine trees that are scattered outside the weight room at Weisiger-Brown I would not have any problems other than my awful drawing “skills.” I probably have every bark chip, branch and twig that is visible from the window committed to memory. This will happen when you have been staring at the same view for 12 of the past 18 months. I typically spend at least an hour per day on the stationary bike or the elliptical machine, staring out at those trees, and past them, to the Paul Derr track.
That's where I would rather be.
Unfortunately, I have been bitten by the injury bug, and have not been able to do much running over the past year and a half. Four stress fractures, multiple bones scans and vials of blood, one case of tendinitis and enough medications to supply my own pharmacy later, here I am, cross training and memorizing bark chips.
I arrived at North Carolina State University in the fall of 2006 after being highly recruited thanks to a successful high school career in Fort Myers, Florida. My first six months here were like a fairytale. The men’s and women’s cross country teams won the ACC Championships, as well as the Southeast Regional Championships. I garnered ACC Freshman of the Year honors, as well as NCAA All-American honors. A few months later I made the USA Junior Cross Country Team, giving me the opportunity to compete at the World Cross Country Championships in Kenya.
Unfortunately, this opportunity slipped away when I felt a twinge in my foot the next day, which ended up resulting in being confined to a walking boot for two months. And so began the downward spiral. After a summer of solid mileage, I came back for my sophomore year with hopes to get back on track literally and figuratively. However, after a mediocre cross country season, I got my first stress fracture in my sacrum. If you are reading this and don’t know where that is, don’t worry, many people don’t. It made for some awkward conversations when people asked me where exactly that was and I had to tell them that, in other words, I had fractured my butt.
I tried to get a base in over the summer, but couldn’t shake a case of shin splints, and by August I wound up with two new stress fractures due to over-compensation and over-training, this time in my right femur and tibia. More than three months later I slowly began to build my mileage back up, but my body was not ready. Thus, fracture number four appeared, also in the right tibia. After a bone density scan, I found out that low levels of Vitamin D, as well as low bone density, were contributing factors to all of my injuries. A mega-dose of Vitamin D pills and a calcium nasal spray were prescribed for me, taking us up to present time.
Running has been a huge part of my life for the past eight years or so, and to have that taken away has been a true test of my faith and my love of the sport. I have always told myself that the day that I wake up and decide that running is no longer fun for me will be the day that I quit the sport. With everything that I have been through, this day has yet to come.
Don’t get me wrong, there are days many days where I question what I am doing and lose sight of my goals. But on those days, I look down at the ACC Championship ring that I wear on my right hand and remember how much this sport means to me, and how badly I want to be back training and racing.
A very influential person in my life once said to me: “Whenever there is a tough time, there is opportunity.” Many student-athletes here at NC State this person as Phil Moses, the executive director of the academic support for student athlete program here at NC State. Phil told me this when I was interviewing him about our struggling economy for a journalism class that I am in. However, I took it out of context and applied it to my struggling collegiate athletic career.
The past 18 months have been extremely tough for me, not just physically, but also mentally. However, the tough times that have come along with being injured have also brought with them many opportunities. I have finally come to terms with the fact that I am not a high-mileage person, and while it’s funny to see the look on people’s faces when you tell them you run 70 miles a week, if I want to excel in this sport then I need to listen to my body and push aside my pride.
I finally completed a crossword puzzle this winter with the help of our awesome athletic trainers while getting treatment in WB. While this may not seem like a big accomplishment to some of you, let me just say that completing a crossword was one of my life goals. Check! Obviously, some of my life goals are not as intense as others. I have also been able to focus on my studies more, and after spending five semesters in First Year College before deciding to major in communications media, that is definitely an area that I needed to focus on.
It is often said that the life of a long distance runner can be very lonely, but I beg to differ. The support network that I have in my teammates, family, coaches and trainers, has been a main factor in my decision to keep pursuing my dreams, regardless of how many setbacks I may face. I will forever be indebted to these people for all the support and encouragement they have lent me, all the shoulders that I have been given to cry on, all the ice bags that have been tied for me, and all the calf massages that I have been given.
I am hoping to start running this week, and to compete in cross country in the fall. That’s my long-term goal though. My short-term goal is to run ten minutes without pain. If I can achieve that, I will be content to move forward from there. Nobody said it would be easy, they just said that it would be worth it.
Well, it’s been worth it.
