All photos by Don Rich
There’s a lot to miss about running, but it’s not necessarily obvious to a 15-year old entering her sophomore year of high school.
Five days in a hospital bed can be a powerful tool of persuasion, but an additional thirty days off can unearth a new appreciation for the sport altogether.
Don’t get it wrong, Colleen Schmidt loved running before. She just didn’t realize how swiftly it could be taken away from her. John and Irene Schmidt, Colleen’s parents, on the other hand knew all along it was possible. Colleen was born with a rare liver disease called biliary atresia and had to undergo an operation called the Kasai procedure at infancy. The condition is successfully managed in life and a high rate of patients lead healthy lives without complication.
For 15 years, so did Colleen.
Then in August 2008, right before her cross country season was beginning, she ran a fever and fell ill.
Within days she was jaundice. Her parents immediately recognized the symptoms and saw a specialist, who in turn immediately admitted Colleen to the hospital.
“It was pretty scary,” John recalls. “We didn’t know what we were dealing with.”
Elevated levels of bilirubin, a main effect of the disease, caused the complication, but beyond a bevy of tests and some monitoring, Colleen would eventually recover. She was released from the hospital five days later.
But for those five days in that10 by 10 box, Colleen realized how much she missed running.
“All I thought about was how all I wanted to do was go back to practice,” she said.
Upon release, she was allowed to return to school but not to practice. She missed running even more.
“It was awful. I felt myself becoming physically unfit and it was just depressing.”
Schmidt was cleared that season and even salvaged enough of it to finish sixth at the CHSAA Intersectional meet and qualify for the New York State Federation meet.
But her takeaway from that season wasn’t the time she spent running, but the time she didn’t spend running. “I had a greater appreciation for it.”
Last spring, Colleen flashed potential by finishing the season with consecutive runner-up finishes in the 1500 meters, getting down to 4:42.64. She entered the summer with a new determination to train.
“I knew there was a lot of pressure so I got off my butt and just ran.”
Schmidt logged 50 mile weeks and swam workouts with her town’s competitive swim team. “She was unbelievably disciplined about running,” Irene says.
Schmidt began reaping awards from her hard work almost immediately by winning the Villa Bears Invitational in 15:26.0 this year at Van Cortlandt Park. The rest of the season has been more of the same but her best races have come in the last month. Schmidt won CHSAA Intersectionals and finished a surprising fourth a week later at the New York State Federation meet.
At the Foot Locker Northeast qualifier two weekends ago, Schmidt upped her game once more, finishing fourth again. That clinched a spot on the Northeast Regional team for this weekend’s Foot Locker National Championship in San Diego.
“After all she went through last year,” Irene said. “For her to come out from the beginning and win. It’s just amazing.”