This week, In The Locker Room reporter Magdalen Dale interviewed junior track captain Teresa Collins. We talked about the pain of running off Thanksgiving dinner (or dessert, rather), the outlook on this year's indoor season, and dispelled the myth that she ever competed in any other sports besides track.

So Thanksgiving was your last break before indoor track practice started?

Yeah. [For Thanksgiving,] me and a friend of mine went to her supervisor’s house, which was really cool because her family was just so crazy and it was fun because it was like, “Yeah, real people interacting like a family!” Then we went to Shaker Heights to visit my Nana, my grandma, and we had dessert at her house because she had, like, banana pudding and two different kinds of cakes and cookies. We had already had dessert at my friend’s supervisor’s house and then we go to my Nana’s house and have all this dessert. We had two pieces of cake each and, like, five cookies each and then I also had some banana pudding. I got real fat. I think I put on like two pounds and then I have to come back and run. Yesterday was the first official day of [indoor] track practice so I had to come back and run all that off. I’m not feeling too good today. My ribs are sore. It’s kind of bad.

So I know there’s only been one practice, but do you have any thoughts on how the track team is looking this year?

The team is great. Lots of people came out and I’m really excited about that. It looks like the number of people joining each year is going up, which is good because I’m tired of running six events at every meet. I need some people to kind of scatter throughout and take me out of those. And the men are looking real nice. I think as of right now we actually have more men out than girls, which is a first. It looks like we’ll be able to get some more guys on the relay teams so that Travis Oman won’t have to run the 4 by 200, the 4 by 100, the 4 by 800it’ll be good. I’m really excited. Everybody seems really positive and I just hope that everybody just decides to keep running track.

It seems like a lot of the new people are frisbee and rugby players. How do you feel about those people that join just to get in shape for their “real sport” in the spring?

I don’t really have a problem with it just as long as they don’t come up to me and say, “Hey Teresa, I’m only running indoor track to get in shape for my REAL sport.” If they do that then I take a little offense. The ones that I know right now who are out there all seem pretty cool. The more the merrier, you know?

I know that the women’s team has lost some key seniors Courtney [Stackhouse], Laura [Feeney], Vicki [Alla]. Do feel there are people on the team that will be able to step up and fill in these roles?

I think there are some people that are going to be forced to step up, just because we need to fill those gaps. I mean myself included. Now I really need to step up and be a leader because Coach did make me a captain. I just gotta’ suck it up.

No more whining your way out of the last 400.

Right. No more compromising workouts. It’s time to actually do the real deal.

Do you know what events you’ll be running this year? How do you see yourself competing this season?

I know for indoor, I’ll do the 4 by 200 and probably the 4 by 400. I’m going to do the open 400 and probably the 200 on occasion. My schedule is always kind of messed up with the open 400 and the triple jump. They always seem to be going on at the same time. So, depending on how that works out, I may or may not be doing the triple jump, even though I want to because it’s one of my favorite events. I can’t say how well I’m going to do, but I do know that I’m just going to get out there and do my best. I don’t like getting last. I might get second to last, but I’m not getting last.

When’s your first meet?

On the 23rd of January. It’s at home against Wooster and Notre Dame.

You’ll need to be here for all of Winter Term then?

Yeah, I’m going to take a course on youth coaching. I may as well get that certification under my belt so I can get myself a job once I bounce on out of here.

Have you coached before?

No, although people tell me I would be a good coach. Sometimes I act like one, but I don’t mean to.

It’s not necessarily a bad thing.

I know. But sometimes I feel bad because I’m not really the coach but I’m like, “you knowyou might do this, or you might want to change this up, but I’m not the coach so you don’t really need to listen to me.”

Do you think you might coach in the future then?

It’s definitely a possibility. I’d want to coach little little kids. When I was younger and we had track meets in the summer time, little tiny, like three- and four-year-olds, would be there. They wouldn’t make them run the 100 because that was too long, but they’d run, like, the 55. They’d just be running and they were so cute. I enjoyed it. But yeah, I don’t know how many three- and four-year-olds are really out running track or looking for coaches just yet. High school would be all right too.

Were you ever one of those three-year-olds out on the track?

No, I started in third grade. No, I take that back. I wasn’t in third grade. I was in seventh grade. I’ve been running for a while. Guess I’ve just been doing it so much that track is all I really know how to do. I can’t really do any other sports. I don’t have basketball skills or soccer skills.

Wait. Didn’t you play basketball in high school?

No. See, everyone thinks I played for some reason. Even in high school people would always ask, “Aren’t you on the basketball team?” Then I’d have to be like, “No, I just run track.”