TERESA DULAC
SPORTS EDITOR
“Running’s in my family,” said junior Sydni Cain. “My parents went on marathons as dates.”
Cain, an English writing major from Huntington Beach, California, has been running for Franciscan’s track team since her freshman year.
“I’ve been running my whole life,” said Cain, “like since as long as I can remember. But I was never going for speed or distance or anything; it was like, ‘Let’s run until I can’t run anymore.’”
Cain only began running with a team when she arrived at Franciscan. She is a distance runner for the team, which means she runs anything that is over a mile.
“I run 5k outdoors, which is 3.1 miles,” said Cain, “and then 3k indoors, which is just under two miles.”
One of Cain’s favorite memories running track was coming back after a shin injury that kept her from running for more than a year.
“I took so many weeks and months off,” said Cain, “then I think like the first race back last year, when I actually knew I was healed enough to run, I ran and PR’d (beat personal record) by a lot, and I just felt so good. It was reaffirming, like look, I can do this, I actually do have what it takes to be a runner.”
Cain said she loves running with her team at Franciscan.
“I think being on a team is just motivating,” said Cain. “I don’t think I would be able to put myself through it mentally or physically if I didn’t have a group of people surrounding me and supporting me and doing it with me.”
“We all cheer each other on every practice, every race — it’s like you know they have your back and are praying for you, even if you’re like, dying out there. And I think that’s how a team at Franciscan is even better because we’re all united as a team, and we’re also united as brothers and sisters in Christ, and we all care about each other so much more because of it,” Cain said.
Cain said she has specific personal records that she would like to beat in both races she runs.
“I’m really close to getting the 3k one,” said Cain. “I haven’t run 5k yet because we’re still indoors, so we’ll see how that goes.”
Another one of Cain’s goals is to grow closer to her team, especially the freshmen.
“They’re the ones who are going to be carrying the team on after I graduate next year,” said Cain. “So yeah, (I want to) just grow closer with everyone and keep on running.”