Member-only story
Among my many facts that shock people is one that I don’t often discuss — the letter I earned in my junior year in high school on the women’s track team. This was at West Mifflin Area High School in 1987.
I was never an athlete. I played softball recreationally, but my horrible depth perception ruined me for the outfield and my arms were just not great for infield. So I was catcher. I was a good catcher, mostly because I trusted my equipment and my teammates could usually hit my mitt with ease. But I wasn’t high school softball team good.
In the entire season, I earned exactly one point for coming in third in a two-mile run. There were three runners. I wasn’t always last, but I was definitely last-adjacent.
My junior year of high school, I went to the homecoming bonfire with some friends. We jokingly raced to the car or the office or somewhere and my friend Wendy said to me “You are pretty fast, you should run track.” No one had ever said that to me in my entire life — you are sporty, do this sporty thing.
So I showed up in January at the orientation just to hear them out and soon found myself running a two mile warmup in the school hallway, then stretching, and then sent on a distance run. What the hell just happened? I’m just here to collect information about…
