Ginger Oberg '25 Recruiting Profile

Sophomore year was the most difficult year for me. I was depressed because I could not do what I loved without hating it. My body and spirit was spent and I almost quit running. 

    I have always been active and athletic. In elementary school I will forever be proud of the 12 pull-ups I did in 5th grade, the most in my class. I also did the most laps around the playground during a school fundraiser, but I stopped to help my friend who was suffering from an asthma exacerbation and was asked to take her to the school nurse. It is ironic when I think of it now because it was asthma that almost stopped me from running. 

    I didn’t start running competitively until I was a freshman in high school. I had played soccer, tennis, took dance and swam for our pool swim team during summer. Freshman year I was planning on playing tennis in the spring and my parents thought it would be good to sign up for cross country in the fall to stay in shape and be part of a team. Looking back now I realize that they also knew that I was a natural runner. 

    Well, freshman year cross country made me love running. I ran a personal best at the metro championship race, my high school team made it to state for the first time in years, and I felt so proud of myself and kept wanting to challenge myself to do better. That spring I decided to try out for track instead of tennis and ultimately I made it to the State championship in the 800m. Unfortunately my body shut down the last 100m of the semi-final and I shuffled to the finish wondering what had happened; still feeling hot and exhausted later that evening my parents tested me and I had COVID. I was disappointed and happy at the same time because I had found my new passion in track and couldn’t wait for sophomore year.             

    The summer before Sophomore year I traveled to Europe and got sick again, developing a cough, chest tightness and fatigue, something I never felt before. I came home feeling exhausted and slowly began recovering. However, we had one of the worst smoke seasons that summer/fall in the Northwest and my breathing was affected. With my lungs inflamed I then developed bronchitis and pneumonia. However, I kept running and started to break down, developing exercise induced asthma. With asthma, I could not run very far without wheezing. But, I kept running, every practice, every race, finishing and nearly passing out after every race falling across the finish line with bronchospasm.  I kept going because every time I convinced myself that my medication would work, I would feel better, I would do better. I wanted to race so badly to prove to myself that I was still as good or better than I was freshman year. I also didn’t want to let my team down. But it doesn't work like that. I only stopped running when I collapsed in the middle of the district championship race; I was spent. My breath was coming out in a whistle and I was laying there just feeling the most defeated I had ever felt in my life. I had dropped out of a race. I was exhausted physically and mentally.  I was running for the team and not for myself. I was torturing myself as I was pushing myself to my complete limits.  What made it harder was no one really understood what was really going on inside me. The team made it to State again that year, but I had to sit on the sidelines and watch and cheer on my teammates, hurting inside. That was probably one of the hardest times of my life. What I felt during that time I held inside for a very long time. It is part of what drives me now. 

    That spring in track I thought I was doing better, but my lingering bronchial inflammation and exercise induced asthma was still there and I hadn’t received optimal treatment yet. I therefore decided to focus on the shorter events, the 800 and 400. I made it to State in the 800 and as part of the 4 x 400 relay where we finished 4th. However, in all the races I did sophomore season I never once felt “great”; I couldn’t quite put it all out there the way I knew deep down I could have, and I never quite was able to use up all my “jelly beans” as my coach would say.  Moving to my junior year in cross country my breathing was better and ultimately towards the end of the season after suffering one more hurdle with me and all my teammates suffering through bronchitis, we finally figured out my optimal treatment, my lungs were doing great and we made it to State again.

    Running has been one of the hardest things I have ever committed to, however, it has taught me the most lessons than any other thing has. It has taught me to believe in myself. I am strong. I am capable of anything I put my mind to. It took so much willpower to finish those races without the ability to breathe and in the moment I hated it so much, but now looking back at it I am so proud of myself and it shows me how strong I am.  Running has also taught me to prioritize myself. Take care of myself first. Rest, Eat, recover. It has taught me that if I want to accomplish something, I have to make sacrifices so I can be the best I can be.  I love running so much, and I am so excited to see how far I can go now that I am healthy and strong, both bodily and mentally.