Bailey Harrop '19 Recruiting Profile

    I'm an avid lover of running, running is my favorite hobby, it's a passion and something I strive to pursue at a high level for the remainder of my high school years and at an even higher level, with the right guidance, as a college athlete.  I found the sport of running after discovering in a season on the swim team at my high school that I much preferred dry land then swimming! I found more enjoyment in running the mile at the end of our two hours of swim practice every day, I was the second fastest runner on the team and I loved the burn it gave my legs, the feeling of flight and power. I felt like I could do anything in that brief mile. When swim season ended I decided to continue to practice running, to see how good I could get; I ran on the treadmill at my apartments gym every day thirty minutes to forty five at a time. I still loved the feeling of running but I dreaded the monotony of the treadmill I wanted to run outside viewing the different scenery.  Track season was starting at my school so I decided to try out and when I made on to varsity I got to run with my team...outside. I fell in love with it, getting to run in parks, pushing myself. I loved the physical endeavor. I began to read all I could on running soaking everything in, taking it in greedily. I figured I could be a better coach for my team then my coach (my school isn't serious about any sport except football in our school so we don't have a "real" cross country/ track coach). I got a subscription to runners world read classics like Born To Run and Once A Runner and begun watching marathons, Olympic, and USATF videos. I decided that this, this passion was something I wanted to pursue and so I added it on my to do list.

 I've always been an organized and driven person, pushing myself academically, keeping a planner, finding joy when I got to check things off and daydreaming my future almost daily. Before running I loved to read and write. I still love those things but running has added an interesting spin to this, now I love to read about running and hope to one day write about it. I was also very interested in nutrition before I found running, I would get textbooks and learn all about the nutrition sciences. Not just the little things you can find in magazines on the stand but the real hardcore science, I loved it! After running this grew into a love of exercise nutrition and physiology. I want to major in nutrition and exercise kinesiology and possibly minor in journalism so that I could write editorials on these subjects.  Because of my love for these things I think I would be a good match for serious coaches who want to push me because I'm a serious athlete with an undying love for running. My passion for the sport will not burn out and I'm willing to do whatever I can to be one of the best. Give me any workout and I'll do it; the only limits that will be able to keep me back is what my body physically can't do. Thank you for taking the time to read this. 

-Bailey M. Harrop