Track Q&A: Abbey Meck

Abbey Meck, a junior on the Pepperdine cross country and track teams, talks about coming back to running after injury, how the indoor track meets have gone, and how she feels about the upcoming outdoor season, which starts Saturday:

Q: How did the first three indoor track meets go?

A: I think the team has been doing pretty well as a whole. Personally, I just got back from a stress fracture, so I was just kind of using the meets to train through that. We got the DMR record, which was exciting. Then our freshman Skylar got the 5k record and that was awesome to see.

Q: What have you been doing to get back from your injury?

A: I have just been building mileage. I haven't been able to run that much. It was weird because I haven't not run for that long in a while. But pretty much just slowly build mileage and trying to stay healthy along with using these meets as training to get back.

Q: How was it having to sit out your cross country season?

A: It was really emotionally hard. I have been running for so long, that not running sucked a lot. It was quite draining and didn't really give me any more time since I spent so much time driving to doctors and cross-training and doing everything I could. It was more time than running and did not feel very rewarding.

Q: Was there any specific help or motivation for you while coming back from your injury?

A: I was just really wanting to be with the team again and wanting to be able to run again, that's my big motivation. I love running so nothing really special beyond that.

Q: What are your goals or expectations for outdoor season?

A: I will probably be doing shorter distances. I don't know if I'll go up to the 5k. I usually do the 5k, then I wanted to run the 10k junior and senior year, but I don't think I will get that high just because I don't have my mileage base. So, I am guessing I will run the mile through 3k and hopefully 5k. A goal would be to lower my PRs if I can, but honestly, I am happy to just run again even if I don't get the fastest times. It was really fun to be able to race again.

Q: You have been one of the top runners for your time here and hold some records. How do you feel you can get back to that level?

A: That's the goal. I am not really worried about not running fast again. I am sure that will come, I just want to run healthy, which is my main concern. Just being able to race, I think I'll race fast once I am racing happy and healthy. I think the team will do well no matter what and it is fun to train with them again.

Q: Is there anything you missed while sitting out?

A: I always say I miss long runs. Just running in general.

Q: What are your thoughts on running indoor versus outdoor?

A: I've never had a good indoor season, so I usually just take it as it is. I am never too worried about if I don't race well at indoor. We also don't have a lot of indoor meets, probably because we are in California.

Q: This being your junior year do you feel like you have grown into more of a leadership role?

A: I am the team captain, so I hope I am. I hope to be a good role model. I am not always training with the girls so I just hope to set a good role to follow through how much we should be doing and how much energy we should be putting in.

Players Mentioned

Abbey Meck

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