Alana Hadley Video Diary #1: "I Need to Figure This Out!"

<p> Alana Hadley, a high school senior in North Carolina, is also rare marathon runner at her age with a 2 hour 41 minute best and ultimate goal of qualifying for a future Olympic team. Alana will be sharing a video diary with MileSplit and Flotrack over this coming year of her ups and downs in her training and running pursuits.</p>

Video Diary #1: "I Need to Figure This Out!" of North Carolina teenage marathoner (2016 Olympic Trials qualifier with 2 hours 41 minute best) Alana Hadley. In her first video diary of several to come over the coming year on Flotrack and MileSplit, Hadley will be having a gopro camera to document her daily training, races, and everyday life. 

A Foot Locker finalist as a freshmen, Hadley just missed making it to nationals again as a sophomore with a 11th place finish at the South Regional in Charlotte (top 10 go to nationals). That would ultimately be Hadley's last race amonst only high school competition as by age 16, she had decided to focus completely on becoming a professional marathoner, gearing all her training and schedule to the distance, and started accepting prize money at road races giving up her amateur status. An untraditional route certainly from virtually 99.9% of all high school runners, she has achieved outstanding PR's including a 16:51 5K, 34:59 10K, and 1:16:41 half marathon. One of the unique things about Alana has been her willingness to be so open about her training and her uncommon running path in her blog and social media

In her first video diary, it starts off at a low point for her personally as she coming off a disappointing DNF in the Virginia Beach Rock n' Roll Half Marathon over Labor Day weekend after dropping out at the 7 mile mark. It is the third race, which Hadley has dropped out of over the past year. A pattern she is hoping to end as Alana opens up about the mental block she is trying to work through along with her father and coach (Mark Hadley) in translating her training progress into the results success. 

Hadley is training and building towards the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon on November 1st, which is the same race that she achieved the Olympic Trials "B" standard with her 2:41:58 personal best run last fall.  (Read our Q&A interview with her last November after 2:41 marathon). Her time ranks #5 all-time among US juniors (ages 19 and under), while she she still has some years to chase after the US junior marathon record time of 2:34.24.

Alana's statement on her DNF race at Rock 'n Roll Half Marathon via Facebook fan page: "This past Sunday I dropped out of the Rock n' Roll Virginia Beach Half Marathon at the 7 mile point. I regret that decision. It ended up being a hot and very humid race, I had not adjusted my goal paces for those conditions, and when I realized several miles into it I was not going to reach the goal I had set for myself, I got flustered, and began to magnify in my mind every ache and tight muscle and eventually stopped more from personal disappointment of not being in a situation to run a fast time than any real physical issue. I am not injured and will race the Virginia 10 miler road race later in September and the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon on Nov. 1st. My training has been going great and I know I am getting stronger and faster each week and I am excited to race these races. To help me in races in the future, I am working on a new multiple goal system for my races to keep me focused for any times when my main goal is not possible that day. I realize now that a sub-par race time is always better than dropping out, for me, the race and my fans and supporters. While being somewhat of a perfectionist has helped me in my training, I realize that I need to put a leash on it in races and do the best I can on that day no matter what, as the race and my fans and supporters deserve that. I thank everyone for all of their support and patience with me, I am young and still learning my way in elite competition, but I am more determined than ever to make it and am looking forward to a great future in the sport I love."