Guest blog: hurdler Christie Gordon starts late, finishes third at Canadian National Championships

Photo credit: Spencer Farrin (Pullman, Wash.)

A little more than a month ago (June 23, I'm posting this a little late), a friend of mine, Christie Gordon, finished third in the hurdles at the Canadian National Championships. I met Christie at the University of Idaho. (I really have no idea how I met her, I would just see her randomly across campus and wave. She's really friendly, but maybe someone should warn her about waving back to strangers.)

I asked her to write a little bit about what that experience was like (her third place finish, not the waving). Below are her words.

The race

Everything is silent.

In a stadium filled with people you could hear a pin drop. My mind is clear. I slow my breathing. One last glance at the 10 barriers that lie ahead of me and I lower my head. On the command I raise up; I'm like a spring coiled up ready to be released. This would be the calm before the storm. The gun goes off and I burst out of the blocks.

In eight short steps I am over the first hurdle. Three steps later I'm over the second hurdle. I'm in fourth place. I have some work to do. Each step is a fight to make up ground on the girls ahead of me. It all happens so fast before I realize I am over the 10th hurdle and racing to the finish line: third, by a very small margin.*

Third place at the Canadian National Championships.

More than 13 seconds

I should be thrilled but after this particular race I'm not quite sure how I feel. I'm not overly happy but I'm also not overly disappointed. Certain races have a way of causing you to reflect on the past as well as look ahead to the future.

You see, those 13 seconds, those are the 13 seconds people see. What they don't see is the hours, days, months and years spent working on your craft. The tears and disappointments, the joys and accomplished goals. There is so much more that goes into it that people don't see.

I think every athlete that strives for success has a sense after a race or a game that it wasn't enough; I can do better; I want more. I find it can be a tough balance between always striving for more and wanting better but still being able to look at a result and being pleased with what you did that day, under those circumstances.

Sometimes it takes another person to put things in perspective. This time it was my coach. He reminded me of how far we had come and the steps whether small or large that I had taken this past year.

A late start

I decided to move back to my home town of Edmonton, Alberta, in January and continue my training. I met with my soon-to-be coach and he hashed out a plan for the upcoming year. I would start training in March (MARCH!?). Typically you start training in September. I would be starting seven months later than usual and seven months later than my competitors. Now I already knew I was behind since I only made the decision to move in January but I expected to start immediately. This is when having a great coach comes in handy.

My coach is patient, calm and understanding. He looks at the big picture while still focusing on the day-to-day. I am the opposite of all of these things when it comes to track and field. I am intense, impulsive and at times irrational.

I knew right away this would be an interesting year. What I didn't know at the time is that this year would reignite my fire for track and field, that I would fall in love with the sport all over again. This year's training looked a great deal different than past years. This required me to approach practices and life in general a little differently. This year I would have two practices a day.

Practicing twice a day requires me to be more diligent with my nutrition habits, I have to ensure I get a minimum of eight hours of sleep a night and it forces me to be more efficient with my time management. Mentally I have to be sharp and focused for practice, be able to shut that off after practice and then re-engage for my later practice and again be able to shut it off once I'm heading home.

24/7

Let me lay it out for you, here is an average week in my life.

7:00 a.m. on Monday morning and I am waking up. I try to wake up two hours before my first practice to make sure I am actually awake when practice starts. I drink a cup of coffee (or two), get ready, eat breakfast and I'm off to the gym. Monday mornings I lift. This consists of a 45 minute warm up and usually a couple lifts or plyometrics and I'm done.

I don't work on Mondays so I have about a five-hour break until my next practice. 4 p.m. rolls around and I am on the track starting my warm-up for my sprint session. These practices we focus on the first 15 meters of the race, the acceleration. I'm generally done by about 6 p.m. Then I head home and make something for supper.

Tuesday, up at 7 a.m. and repeat my morning routine to hit the gym at 9. Same warm-up but Instead of lifting it's a circuit. In between practices I clean, I am a house cleaner. I spend the next 2-3 hours cleaning someone else's house top to bottom. Eat, then head to the track for my favourite.... hurdle practice!

Warm-up, hurdle session and back to the gym to lift. Back home at about 7 p.m. and the always difficult decision, what's for supper.

I work all day on Wednesday at my regular job, after work I head to a clinic for therapy which is not a pleasant thing. Then I head to the track to work with our team therapist. Thursday and Friday follow the same training pattern as Monday and Tuesday with either work or cleaning in between practices.

That is just a small glimpse into an average week. There is a great deal that goes into being a successful elite athlete. It is a 24-hour, 7-days-a-week profession. And one that I thoroughly enjoy. Not only am I putting in hours of work each week but there are a number of people behind the scenes that in my opinion don't ever get enough credit!

Not in this alone

My coach, the director of our program, our VOLUNTEER therapist, friends and my family, these people give so much of their time, energy and in some cases money to support my dream. Words cannot express how much I appreciate them. It's easy for people to give me all the glory for a job well done, a bronze at Nationals.

That is glory I cannot accept. In my opinion my abilities are 100 percent a gift from God. My coach then creates a program best suited for my needs to fully develop my ability. I just go out and do what I'm told. I would not be where I am today if it were not for them. Each and every one of them deserve just as much of my bronze medal as I do. I'm just blessed to be able to go out and do what I love.

Everyone has something they are passionate about. Some people find their passion early in life while others find it later, but everyone has something that they get excited about. If I have learned anything from my time in track and field it would be to earnestly pursue your passions. Find what you love, surround yourself with good people and go after it. Whether it is taking a photography or art class, volunteering at an animal shelter, baking, singing, running, whatever it is do it. You have to start somewhere, but that is the exciting part... watching yourself grow and change! Be great.

*(Christie finished with a time of 13.38. She was .25 of a second behind second place finisher Jessica Zelinka and .48 of a second behind two-time Olympian and University of Idaho assistant track and field coach Angela Whyte.)