An Interview with Gracie Ferguson, D'Iberville
By DP Daigle
DP: What is your name, what grade are you in, and what school do you go to?
GF: My name is Gracie Ferguson. I am in the 11th grade, and I go to d'Iberville High School.
DP: What is your current Personal Record (Best Time)?
GF: My current PR is 19:44.
DP: What is the next goal or time that you are trying to hit?
GF: I am trying to pace myself to be at 19:30 by the end of the season.
DP: What is your favorite workout your Coach has you do?
GF: My favorite workout is the interval days.
DP: What is your least favorite workout?
GF: My least favorite workout is any workout involving burpees. Man, I dread those things.
DP: What are your plans after high school?
GF: My plans after high school are to go to college hopefully with at least a partial scholarship and continue to learn about running so I can hopefully one day maybe be a college cross country coach.
DP: What motivates you to run?
GF: My motivation to run is in hopes of a successful future.
DP: What do you think about when you're running?
GF: I think about why I run. I know I want to quit at times, but I feel that as Steve Prefontaine once said, "To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift."
DP: I love that quote too, do you have any superstitions on race day or perhaps an odd pre-race routine?
GF: I used to have a song I would listen to before every race ,but now I just pray before every race and thank God for allowing me the privilege of running.
DP: Two quick ones. . . Gatorade or Powerade? Jersey (Singlet), tucked or untucked?
GF: Gatorade all the way! I would have to say I like my jersey untucked, but I did find it quite nice tucked during track season.
DP: What is your GPA and ACT score?
GF: My GPA is around a 3.7, and my ACT is a 25.
DP: Do you have a favorite meal for the night before a race?
GF: I like to go with pastas. Everyone knows to carb-load I assume.
DP: Do you take ice baths? If yes, what do you think about during an ice bath?
GF: I have taken an ice bath multiple times before. I can assure you I don't take them
regularly.
DP: Name a lesson that running and training as a runner has taught you.
GF: I have learned that winning first isn't always everything. You can have personal wins without winning the overall race. There's always someone better than you.
DP: Do you have a rival runner? Or who is your team's biggest rival?
GF: Yes, my rival runner is Sadie Smith from Ocean Springs, but I have a lot of respect for her.
DP: What do you do to recover after a race?
GF: I lie down under the tent for about ten minutes and think about what just happened
during the race.
DP: What is your favorite thing about your coach?
GF: My mom is my coach, so I love how hard she pushes me to be my best self in life and running.
DP: What is the strangest thing you've seen during a race?
GF: A girl walked the whole race.
DP: Who is your biggest fan?
GF: My biggest fan is my big sister as far as I know. She comes to all my races and cheers me on. Another one of my fans is a runner on the middle school team who I feel looks up to me.
DP: What advice would you like to share with younger runners, maybe the JH kids on your team?
GF: I have already shared many of my experiences with the JH runners on my team, but what I hope they get out what I tell them is that you don't have to be the best out there because there is no shame in giving all your and not succeeding. You have to draw a line at the point where laziness comes in, and I tell them they should try to resist the urge of
slacking. I want them to be better tomorrow then they were today and continue that.
DP: Is there anything else you want to share with the MileSplit Community?
GF: All I can really say is running probably isn't for everybody, and I think we all love and hate it at the same time, but at the end of the day only the mentally strongest can survive the 6 years of running it in high school.