Ferris’ Smith Gets A ‘Break’ With Fracture
Jennifer Smith is well aware of the thin line between success and failure on which a distance runner balances.
The Ferris senior, the State AAA 3,200-meter champion and runnerup in the 1,600 last spring, was a dominating runner in cross country last fall until a late-season stress fracture caused her to struggle to 13th place in the state meet.
Healed physically, Smith enters the track season with a healthy mental outlook.
“I want to improve my times, of course,” she said. “As far as winning state (in the 1,600 and/or 3,200) goes … I think I would rather have a PR (personal record) than a title. A PR is my best, but a title doesn’t mean that I did the best I could. A PR means I did the best I could and that’s really what matters.”
Smith has always done her best, but last fall that was too much.
“I know it kind of seems crazy but in a way I think my stress fracture was a positive,” she said. “I learned a lot from it. I think you have to test your boundaries to be able to grow, to see how far you can go.
“I was running pretty good mileage but I think it was more that the intensity I ran with every day was high. I had to learn you have to take easy days. I guess I just had so much desire, I didn’t hold back. That’s why my stress fracture was a positive. Now I can kind of listen to my body.”
That’s bad news for runners who saw a crack in Smith’s armor last fall.
“I healed great,” she said. “I’m where I expect to be and probably even better from where I was last year at the beginning. I am running the same mileage, but as far as intensity goes, I’m running smarter.”
Smith plans to use her smarts to be a bilingual counselor. She’ll attend the University of Colorado next year.
As far as the pressure of being the favorite for her last high school season, she can handle that.
“I can see where (pressure) comes from but I don’t really put the pressure on myself. It just comes from within me,” she said. “It wouldn’t be letting other people down, it would be letting myself down if I don’t do my best. I know what I’m capable of, what I think I’m capable of.”
Ferris coach Jim Missel said, “As far as team pressure, she says she’ll do whatever it takes to win in league. I leave the door open in the invitationals.
“She’s smarter, she’s focused. She’s a top-notch runner. She has a clear vision of what she wants to be.”
In a perfect world, that would mean she’ll run her two fastest races at state, which would result in two gold medals.
“Of course,” she said with a laugh, before heading out on an intelligent training run.
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