Runner 'drives' hard toward finish line of races, career
11/15/2002 12:00:00 AM | Women's Cross Country
On a quiet fall afternoon, strolling through the fir and pine trees up Rattlesnake Creek, a faint rumble is heard in the distance. As the sound quickly moves closer, a combination of shuffling feet and high pitched voices can be made out. It is the sound of the University of Montana's women's cross-country team gossiping during an afternoon workout.
"It's hilarious, my teammates and I are each other's psychiatrists," said senior Julie Ham, UM's top women's runner. "I don't know if it's that our endorphins getting going, or if it's our sisterhood, but we tell each other a lot."
These women may talk about boys, school, running and more boys, but this is not lunchroom chit-chat. They are carrying on this "conversational pace" while trudging up snowy hills for 13 miles.
"We have to pass the long weary miles somehow," said UM's Kerry Bogner.
Out leading the pack is Ham, making sure to keep her ducklings in a row.
"She's like the mother hen," Bogner said.
Ham has been a team leader since she was a sophomore, said cross country coach Tom Raunig.
She may lead the team with the warmth of a mother, but when it comes to running, she charges up mountains with the force of a bull.
"She always races well," said her roommate, former teammate and best friend Amy Farmer. "When it's time to get things done, she does it."
Over her intercollegiate running career, Ham has stepped up to the line despite injury or heartaches, Farmer said.
Ham, 21, from Carmel, Ind., is in the final stretch of her career, and like the last 800-hundred meters of her races, she is kicking it into high gear. This weekend Ham, and the rest of UM's men's and women's cross country teams, will be competing in Albuquerque, N.M., at the Mountain Regional Championships. The top 25 runners from that race will continue to the NCAA Championships in Terre Haute, Ind., the following weekend.
Last year at the regional competition, Ham finished 7.5 seconds short of a trip to nationals. If she fails to place in the top 25, Saturday could be Ham's last race.
But, if Ham's family and hometown friends have anything to say about it, she will be running two weeks from now in Indiana. None of her family is attending the race this weekend with the intent she will be coming home soon.
"They're banking on me coming to nationals," said Ham.
Although Ham's parents are only able to see her run in three cross country meets a year, she said they are the most supportive of her running. Her mom never missed a soccer game or cross country meet while Julie was growing up, and her father only missed one. Ham said she is looking forward to having her mom standing at the finish line two weeks from now, waiting like she did when Ham was in high school, with a handful of bananas, a gatorade and a big hug.
These are the precious moments Ham likes to remember about her parents, like trying to forgive them for the 13 years they forgot her birthday - or at least the day it fell on.
"I'm a 4-20 baby," Ham said, "But my parents told me my birthday was on the 19th of April."
It was more than a decade later that Ham's mother went to sign her up for girl's soccer that she happened to notice the date on her daughter's birth certificate. Ironically, Ham's grandmother had always marked her birthday on April 20, but her parents attributed it to old age. It wasn't until Ham was 13 that she began celebrating her birthday on the correct date.
"Who's parent's do that?" Ham said. "Only mine."
She eventually forgave her parents for the mistake, considering her mother was in labor for 26 hours before Ham was born. She now celebrates a "birthday week."
But Ham doesn't need a reason to throw a party. Her and Farmer have dance parties in their living room a couple times a week, Ham said. They also refer to their house as "Saloon 34."
"It's like a high class spa," said Farmer, 23, who plays beauty parlor with Ham in their bathroom.
Farmer and Ham have lived together for three years and enjoy throwing fashion shows and playing dress up.
Sometimes the 5-foot-3 inch, 105-pound petite lady likes to pretend she is a rapper, spouting lyrics off the top of her head, Farmer said.
"We are totally like sisters," she said, "We could stay in our house together for the rest of our lives entertaining each other and be perfectly content."
It was running that brought the two together. Last year was Farmer's final year of eligibility, and she now supports Ham through the final weeks of her career.
Ham's race strategy is to "drive" to the finish.
"I run a race like driving a stick shift," she said. "I start in first gear, by the last kilometer I am in fourth gear and with 800 left to go, I kick it into fifth gear and turn the heat on."
When Ham hits the final stretch, either this Saturday or the following week at nationals, her spikes gripping the terrain and her sweatband filling with perspiration, she is not only racing to the finish of her cross country career but to the starting line of new beginnings.
"It's hilarious, my teammates and I are each other's psychiatrists," said senior Julie Ham, UM's top women's runner. "I don't know if it's that our endorphins getting going, or if it's our sisterhood, but we tell each other a lot."
These women may talk about boys, school, running and more boys, but this is not lunchroom chit-chat. They are carrying on this "conversational pace" while trudging up snowy hills for 13 miles.
"We have to pass the long weary miles somehow," said UM's Kerry Bogner.
Out leading the pack is Ham, making sure to keep her ducklings in a row.
"She's like the mother hen," Bogner said.
Ham has been a team leader since she was a sophomore, said cross country coach Tom Raunig.
She may lead the team with the warmth of a mother, but when it comes to running, she charges up mountains with the force of a bull.
"She always races well," said her roommate, former teammate and best friend Amy Farmer. "When it's time to get things done, she does it."
Over her intercollegiate running career, Ham has stepped up to the line despite injury or heartaches, Farmer said.
Ham, 21, from Carmel, Ind., is in the final stretch of her career, and like the last 800-hundred meters of her races, she is kicking it into high gear. This weekend Ham, and the rest of UM's men's and women's cross country teams, will be competing in Albuquerque, N.M., at the Mountain Regional Championships. The top 25 runners from that race will continue to the NCAA Championships in Terre Haute, Ind., the following weekend.
Last year at the regional competition, Ham finished 7.5 seconds short of a trip to nationals. If she fails to place in the top 25, Saturday could be Ham's last race.
But, if Ham's family and hometown friends have anything to say about it, she will be running two weeks from now in Indiana. None of her family is attending the race this weekend with the intent she will be coming home soon.
"They're banking on me coming to nationals," said Ham.
Although Ham's parents are only able to see her run in three cross country meets a year, she said they are the most supportive of her running. Her mom never missed a soccer game or cross country meet while Julie was growing up, and her father only missed one. Ham said she is looking forward to having her mom standing at the finish line two weeks from now, waiting like she did when Ham was in high school, with a handful of bananas, a gatorade and a big hug.
These are the precious moments Ham likes to remember about her parents, like trying to forgive them for the 13 years they forgot her birthday - or at least the day it fell on.
"I'm a 4-20 baby," Ham said, "But my parents told me my birthday was on the 19th of April."
It was more than a decade later that Ham's mother went to sign her up for girl's soccer that she happened to notice the date on her daughter's birth certificate. Ironically, Ham's grandmother had always marked her birthday on April 20, but her parents attributed it to old age. It wasn't until Ham was 13 that she began celebrating her birthday on the correct date.
"Who's parent's do that?" Ham said. "Only mine."
She eventually forgave her parents for the mistake, considering her mother was in labor for 26 hours before Ham was born. She now celebrates a "birthday week."
But Ham doesn't need a reason to throw a party. Her and Farmer have dance parties in their living room a couple times a week, Ham said. They also refer to their house as "Saloon 34."
"It's like a high class spa," said Farmer, 23, who plays beauty parlor with Ham in their bathroom.
Farmer and Ham have lived together for three years and enjoy throwing fashion shows and playing dress up.
Sometimes the 5-foot-3 inch, 105-pound petite lady likes to pretend she is a rapper, spouting lyrics off the top of her head, Farmer said.
"We are totally like sisters," she said, "We could stay in our house together for the rest of our lives entertaining each other and be perfectly content."
It was running that brought the two together. Last year was Farmer's final year of eligibility, and she now supports Ham through the final weeks of her career.
Ham's race strategy is to "drive" to the finish.
"I run a race like driving a stick shift," she said. "I start in first gear, by the last kilometer I am in fourth gear and with 800 left to go, I kick it into fifth gear and turn the heat on."
When Ham hits the final stretch, either this Saturday or the following week at nationals, her spikes gripping the terrain and her sweatband filling with perspiration, she is not only racing to the finish of her cross country career but to the starting line of new beginnings.
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