Family vs. Track and Field

            by Sheilicia Runnels

 

Growing up in a very large family being known as M.I.A. was very rare. That’s what I became known as by the time I turned seven in the second grade. I was six when my mom made me start running track with my school and later with a track club. As word spread throughout the family everyone was happy about it because I more than likely wouldn’t turnout like most of the other kids. The one got stayed into trouble on a daily basis and had been locked up by the time they were ten years old. Considering I was the only grandchild left that wasn’t an adult yet, everyone was concerned about how I was going to turn out opposed to the others.
The day I came in my grandparents house after my first day of practice I was so tired, but excited at the same time. In fact I was so excited I ran to my grandpa who was asleep in his bed, that I woke him up to tell him everything. “Daddy! Daddy! Guess what!” Sleepily he replied “Little hyper girl what do you want? Don’t you see I’m sleep? Why can’t you wait till I wake up to tell me something?” After he finished complaining about me waking him up he finally rolled out of his bed to sit at the table so I could climb in his lap to tell my story.
When he saw how excited I was he called my granny into the room to have me tell her everything I had told him. After every sentence the three of them would start asking a million questions like “Did you do everything?” “Was it hard?” “Could you keep up with the other kids? Or did they leave you in their dust?” After I answered all of their questions they all looked at each other and laughed as if they didn’t believe anything I said. Then the phone rang, it was my uncle calling. When my mom answered sounding like she had been laughing he asked “What wrong with you, what’s so funny I wanna laugh too.” She told him then gave me the phone so I could tell him my story. As soon as I finished my story he started laughing too then made me give the phone to my grandpa. I guess he called and told somebody in the family then they told somebody else, because by that weekend at the get together at my aunts house everyone knew about my story as well as my first day of practice.
At my first track meet I had more fans than any one else competing in the meet. My family members who came out to support me came in by the dozens to watch me run. Originally there was a certain amount of space provided for each team but since my team had so many people in the stands, we used up the empty spaces in other team areas. The rest of my team mates were so excited because of all the people we had there to support us, although I knew that they were really my fan club, I agreed. I guess since we had a lot of people in the stands along with a huge team everyone we raced was intimidated or we were just that good. All of our relays won their races and I even won one of my individuals and placed second in the other. During all of my races all I could hear was “GOO SHA-LEE-SHE-UUUH!!” from the time the gun went off until I crossed the finish line.
When I was done for the day, everyone made me pose to take pictures while holding up my 2 blue ribbons and one red ribbon. As soon as the paparazzi left me alone we immediately went to get something to eat since we had been there all day long. Unfortunately that was one of the only meets I had with that much support who weren’t other parents of the teams.
Later that year, a coach who had a youth track club within U.S.A track and field began talking to my mom about joining his team. I believe he became interested because I was so young and had potential as the other coaches said. After each conversation my mom would say: “So what do you think?” I’d just look at her and say: ”Do I look like I was listening to anything he said? He was talking to you not me.” At the time my smart mouth amused her so she would brush it off and say I should have been listening. To this day I still have a problem with listening, especially when not being spoken to.
The first Monday we were off for spring break my mom told me to get dressed for practice at around five. I looked her with the ugliest face and asked “For what? We didn’t have school so that means we don’t have practice. So what am I getting dressed for?” She must have gotten irritated by me asking questions or my attitude. So, she went to my closet got some sweats out and threw them at me then said “Put them on and shut up” then she walked out the room followed by a loud “AND HURRY UP!” Me being my mamas child I got a attitude right back and took my sweet precious time putting on my clothes. Then walked out of my room as slow as my skinny little legs could move. She was so mad she just stared at me with an evil eye and I pretended like I didn’t even notice.
After I got in the car she sped off down the street to my aunt’s house to get her and my two cousins, who were standing outside waiting when we pulled up to there house. When they got in I noticed they had on sweats too. As usual my aunt got in the car running her mouth, talking loud enough for all of Oakland and Berkeley to hear, with some outrageously over exaggerated story to tell. As we drove down Martin Luther King I noticed she didn’t get on the freeway to go to my school. Five minutes later we were pulling into the parking lot of Berkeley High and I saw a big red track that had people in every direction even on the field.
As soon as we walked through the gate between the gym and bleachers, I noticed the coach from my track meets that my mom had been talking to. He looked happy to see all of us, especially when he yelled “HEY EDIE! It’s about time yall got here! I told you five thirty its almost six fifteen. What were you doing kicking back watching the sun go down?” With an attitude in her voice she said “No, we were waiting on her while she was slow poking around.” As soon as she said that all eyes were on me, even people I didn’t know were looking at me. So I defended myself by saying “She didn’t tell me that I was coming here I thought I was going to my practice at school. By the way who are you?” Simultaneously everyone started laughing extremely loud and hard as if they had heard the funniest joke of their lives.
He then introduced himself as Tony Williams, coach and founder of Tony Williams Track and Cross Country Club. Afterwards he introduced me to the rest of the people who were on the team. It was funny to me and how all of us had names that were very.. Original. The girls were Zinzi, Zetra, Jameelah, Lolli, Marteika and of course myself. The boys were Chemon and Jamel, all very uncommon, except Jameelah. That day of practice was the hardest practice of my life, at that point. Unfortunately everyone else thought it was kind of easy. Basically the bad and the ugly were soon to come along with the crying and the pain of getting in shape.
Over the next two years I stayed with that same team. From the month I had joined, every weekend we had a track meet that lasted all day Saturday and Sunday. Those were the days we used to spend with my family, but since we couldn’t be there, my mom and I became separated from everyone else. At first I didn’t really care because we were having fun at the meets running around with the kids from the other teams. Since we were elite and were part of a national association we traveled to another state almost every other weekend. Every week it seemed as if we made new friends from Texas or L.A. My mom also didn’t mind because everything was already paid for except food. I would take that over a get together any day.
My eldest aunt began to call on Friday nights to see if we were going to come to what ever event or gathering was planned for that weekend. Eventually she caught on to the pattern and stopped calling. One Sunday night when we stumbled into my grandparents house after a meet my grandpa said, “You know everybody been talkin about yall.” My mom looked at him and said “ What you mean they talkin’ bout us?” He replied “ They saying that you got that girl in that track and you act like you done forgot about the people who was here before you got her involved in that mess.”
My mom got upset and yelled “If they have a problem with me and what I’m doing why can‘t they just come to me and say it to my face?” My grandpa got mad and looked at her as if she was some kind of strange creature, and said “Who is you raisin’ yo’ voice at? I’m telling you. That’s why they didn’t tell you.” She opened her mouth to say yell back. Then he cut her off and said “Now say something else smart.” I couldn’t help but laugh. Considering the fact she would punk me the same way.
There were also a lot more problems the were constantly occurring as time went by with the team. My mom had gotten to the point where she was tired of even looking at Tony’s face, so she was already looking for a new team for me to join. Some of the other parents were doing the same for some of my other teammates. Since we wanted to stay together we started our own team. The team, only lasted a year, then we moved on and went our separate ways.
Around the time I turned nine, I joined another team called Westside Kickers out of west Oakland. My first day of practice my mom got me there extra early. As the team began to arrive they all just looked at me and kept walking. When I saw them I looked at my mom and asked very quietly almost a whisper “Why are they all so big?” “And where are the all the girls?” She looked around and looked back at me and said “You are the girl.” then laughed like there was something funny. Not only was I the only girl, I was the youngest on the team by five years.
Since the coach said for us to be at the track of McClymonds High at five o’clock we walked over to the corner where the rest of the team were beginning to warm up. Since I didn’t know anybody I jus stood against the fence and waited for the coach. One of boys put two and two together and figured I was there to join the team, so he called out to me. “AY! Yo lil’ mama, who you waitin‘ for? Coach White?” I looked over to him and yelled back “Yea! You know him?” They all looked at each other and said in unison “YEA!! We’re the team!” Even though I already knew that I put one hand up at them and put the other on my chest and softly said “My bad, I didn’t know that. Ya’ll act like I’m some kind of psychic or something.” Once again everybody starts laughing. Then I walked over to where they were and they introduced themselves. As the list of names went on I began to recognize them from the meets when the announcer would scream “AND IT’S WEST- SIIDE!! WITH A NEW MEET RECORD!!” my team used to copy him because he said it like ice cube said it on the radio.
After they all introduced themselves it was my turn. “Well since everybody done told me their name, mines is Sheilicia.” One of the boys named Devin said in disbelief “Wait a minute yo name is what?” I looked at him and said “Did I stutter? Sha-lee-sha, you got it now?” Everybody looked at him and started laughing, then one dude yelled “SMASHERS!”
Then I heard a deep voice say “ Aww man she got a smart mouth just like her mama” When I turned around I saw a short dark-skinned man who was as dark as the black on his necklace with the colors of Africa on it, with glasses and some red and black sweats with red and black Nikes. Everyone began to laugh except me and my mom at the comment. Then he said “See, she even got serious from that remark just like her mama. Look at both of their faces!” I looked at her, she looked at me and we had the exact same facial expression on our faces. We both couldn’t help but to laugh because it was a comment we had heard quite often from those who know us.
He then reached out to shake my hand and said “You must be Sheilicia, what’s good wit you I’m Coach White” I just looked at him, and as soon as I opened my mouth, Devin said “ Back up she finna say something smart!” Just so I could prove him wrong I didn’t say anything and shook his hand. Over the next few weeks a couple more boys joined the team and I wasn’t the only person my age anymore. But I was still the only girl.
After being on this team for a few months I began to travel to more big meets across the state but not across the country. Of course my family was a lot happier because I was always around. At the same time they were still unsatisfied because my grades had began to fall and I was very “lazy”. Since everyday I had practice, except Fridays, and every Saturday and Sunday were track meets which lasted all day I was always tired. Most people say you had all night to sleep after the meets but in reality I didn’t. they would start at like 10 in the morning and last until 9 or ten at night. After we took down our tarps, gathered all of the blankets and coolers, found all of the sweat suits, loaded everything into the cars, and cleaned up our area it was thirty minutes later. Since we ran all day until the last events we couldn’t eat all day except little snacks so we would have to stop at a Restaurant to eat. Just imagine how long that took, I’ll give you an example. We went to Denny’s with a party of 12 athletes and 10 parents. On top of us having a big group we had to wait 20mins to be seated, 10mins to order once seated. Then, almost an hour to get our food, all because other teams from the meet were eating there as well. There were many times where I fell asleep at the table waiting for food.
When everyone was finished eating we would most likely have a two to three hour drive home. As my mom and I stepped in the door of our rooms it would be well after one o’clock. Then I would have to take a shower and go to bed to be at school the next morning at eight. But I had to be up by six thirty. Therefore if you did the math I was working sixteen hour days and sleeping five hours at night over the weekend. Sadly, practice still started at four thirty on Monday as well. So basically I didn’t get enough rest unless I got a whole day to just sleep, or at least sleep in.
Since it was a regular thing my aunts and uncles were all against my running track any longer. They believed my mom was the whole reason I was out at all hours of the night at first. So, they used to just fuss about her staying out with her friends late at night knowing I needed to be in bed. Then they found out it wasn’t all her they complained about track. Almost every day they would call each other and gossip about everything. During their conversations they came up with every reason in the book as to why I didn’t need to run track.
One day my aunt called from Sacramento telling me about the gossip going around the family. She then asked “Why are you running track?” I answered, “At first my mom made me run, after a while I got used to it. Then I began to have fun, and almost all of the friends I still keep in touch with run track.” I thought she would leave me alone after that but she decided she wanted to try to persuade me into believing I didn’t need to run. “There is no reason for you to be running track, there are other sports for you to play. I could understand if you were fat or something and she was trying to make you lose weight. But you are far from that case.” Since I was aware of her being the spokesperson for everyone, I asked “Can you tell everybody else not to call me talking about track since I‘ve already talked to you?” After an awkward moment of silence she replied, “I was going to try and make up an excuse so you wouldn‘t think I talk to everyone, but you‘d know I was telling a story. So yea, I‘ll tell everyone everything you told me then tell them not to call you about that.” Relieved that she didn’t say anything stupid or just plain NO! I told her thank you and made up a reason for me to call her back later, but never did.
A few years had passed since everyone’s complaining about me running, thank goodness. I had changed teams for the last time, had all good grades (except English), we traveled literally every other weekend, and my family was happy. Then the unthinkable happened.
During the end of my eighth grade year, while running in a race at Cal my knee made a loud and painful POP! When I crossed the finish line seconds later my entire right knee was huge compared to my left. It hurt so bad I fell to the track holding my knee and screamed. An official ran over to me and yelled “Sweetie what’s wrong? Are you ok?” When she said that I almost wanted to take off my spike and slap across the face with it. Why would you ask me what’s wrong if I’m holding my knee whining it hurts? And then ask me if I’m ok when everybody in the stadium heard me scream and witnessed me hitting the ground?! Is it just me or was that as stupid as stupid could get?. I think the only reason I didn‘t is because I was in too much pain to even move at that moment.
It hurt so bad I couldn’t walk off of the track. When the officials got me to the field I was crying so hard I couldn’t hear anything they were asking me. About a minute later I heard my coach asking me “what did you do now?” Then the trainer saying “Sheilicia hold this ice on your knee so the inflammation can go down” At the same time my mom is trying to ask me if I need to go to the doctor. Once again I get another dumb question so, I just didn’t answer any of them.
The following day I went with my teammate who was now complaining about her knee hurting too, to a sports doctor in Palo Alto. He ordered both of us an MRI for both knees for the very next morning. That next morning at four o’clock in the morning her dad came in the room telling us to get up. We were highly upset because it was still dark outside and we had to wake up to go get in a machine that takes pictures. By four forty-five we were on our way to Hayward from Hercules for an appointment at five fifteen. When we had both been through the loud clicking and rumbling of the machine we had thirty minutes to get to school.
When we went back to the doctor he said “Well I have good news and bad news for the both of you. So, which would you like first?” We both agreed to get the bad and the ugly out of the way first. He then said “Welp, Ms. Runnels you have wear and tear on both of your knees one far worse than the other. And you also have a small cist right beneath your knee cap. Therefore you won‘t be running for a while and you may have to get surgery, but I don‘t think so if you stay off of it.” He also said something else but I can’t remember , bad memory. He took a deep breath and said “But the good news is you won‘t have to lose the leg and you can still walk, but with a limp. Oh, yes and I can also be corrected. Look on the bright side you won‘t have to go to practice for a while.” Little did he know I had already concluded that.
When my mom told my grandmother what the doctor said, it was like news on Brittany Spears. Everybody knew about it by the next morning. Now not only didn’t they want me to run anymore, they were mad my mom ’let’ me get hurt that bad.
Over the course of the next year I was in physical therapy and rehab. I couldn’t run but I still stayed in shape and worked almost as hard as I would have at track practice. By the beginning of my sophomore year I was trying to go to practice. Eventually I was able to run through the pain and train with the rest of the team. When we told my family I was back running, half of them were happy because I really wanted to run. While the other half were irritated and didn’t want to hear anything about it. My eldest aunt was so mad she said “You and your mama are so stupid! Why would you get hurt running and then you think you‘re healed and go right back to doing the exact same thing that had you moving like a old woman in the first place?!” Since I couldn’t hold my tongue anymore I said “You sure are doing a lot of complaining but I don‘t see any of your kids doing anything with themselves but sitting around looking stupid. And do you plan on paying for me to go to college because in track I can get a scholarship and that’s a free education on my part while you constantly complainin’ and getting on my last nerve” She was so mad she hung up in my face and I could care less. I was quite relieved because I didn’t have to hear her mouth anymore.
So the season went on and continued to train hard so we could get to the state championships and win. Then once again something else happens to me. At practice it was so cold outside every night I had gotten sick. Every day my mom would make me come to practice saying “if you go to practice you can run the cold out of your body.” Since I didn’t want to argue with her I went and did the best I could without dying on the track. When we were almost done for the night my heart began to pound and actually hurt. I laid down on the ground holding my chest, once it slowed down I got up and went straight to the car.
The next morning I went to the doctor met with a cardiologist. He ran several tests and asked twenty billion questions about me, my mom and my family both on my moms side and my dad’s side. After he gave me an EKG, he concluded I had severe palpitations and he doesn’t know what causes them. This was the last and final straw for everyone, including me. Since heart disease runs in my family I was kind of spooked and actually listened to the family for once when they said for me not to run. For the first time in nine years they were satisfied with my decision, which was listening to them. Basically they won this time around.
Over the summer of that very same year I went to a few other cardiologists for second and third opinions. The both of them told me to continue running and if I gets worse to stop. So of course I kept running, especially since my mom wouldn’t let me do anything but sit in the house, And that was not the business.
As of today my family still thinks I’m not running any more. They are going to be in for a big surprise when track season starts in February.