Background:
Junior Nora Thompson is an avid year-long runner on the cross country and winter and spring track teams. Thompson’s interest in running began in elementary school when she joined “Girls on the Run.” Since then, she joined a club team in middle school and continues to run at Jefferson. Thompson currently runs the mile and the two mile for winter track.

How did you get interested in the mile and the two mile?

I like running those events because I’m a lot better at endurance events than sprint events.

Why did you join track?

I joined track because I like the fact that track and cross country [are] three seasons, so it’s all-year round. You can keep running, and spend time with the same group of people the whole time, so you get really close with them. I enjoy running partly for that, because it’s a really cool way to make friends. Also, I think it’s a big stress relief, because practice is a break I can always count on before I have to go back home and do work.

What’s your favorite part about winter track?

My favorite part about running in general [is] that it’s a stress relief and it helps me feel in shape, and also I get to spend time with the people I’ve met.

How do you prepare for each meet, and what’s your favorite aspect of competing?

Each week, we do a combination of long runs and workouts that are different numbers of different intervals at different paces, so we either work on getting faster or keeping the same pace for the whole race. So those are important aspects, because when you’re running a mile, it’s important to know what your pace should be so you don’t slow down during the end.

I like the atmosphere of meets, because there’s so many people around, and everyone’s cheering everyone on, and everyone runs a different event during track season, so it’s not as competitive because you’re not compared to everyone. You can focus on what you’re best at, and people are proud of you when you do that.

What do you hope to achieve in the future as a track athlete?

I’d really like to automatically qualify for a district or regional meet, because that shows that you are not only good compared to people at the school, but [that] you are fast compared to other people around the country. And I think that running in college would also be really great as well, because I love the community and the stress relief, and I think those parts would help in college, and running is something you can do your whole life which is something I hope to do.