Athlete Interview: Edith Ung

Introduction:

Edith Ung is in her third year of four years. During her second year, she was unfortunately faced with back pain that slowly started to build up and became chronic. This year, despite intentions of going along with the season as she usually would, her back pain resurfaced and worsened. Edith suspects that while she was running, something triggered it to be even worse than last year resulting in her not being able to compete for the rest of this season.

Interview

1. How did this injury first occur?

“During freshman year, I started to feel a sharp pain in my lower back after I finished running a 543 which in Track is basically a 500, 400, and 300 workout rep that goes around the track for several hundreds of meters. I think that this was what sparked my injury, as I was pushing myself to my limits during this specific workout.”

2. What was your journey going into Track and your journey in it?

“I knew I wanted to do a sport in high school and I found myself enjoying and taking a liking for running, so I tried out for Track freshman year. Since joining Track, I have made so many friends and lasting memories as we work at various meets and bond over the painful workouts that our coach gives us. When I first joined Track, I had extremely bad stamina and my overall running times were bad in general. With lots of practice and support from my teammates, I’ve been able to make a lot of progress and have surprised myself along the way.”

3. What were your initial thoughts when you developed this injury?

When I first developed the injury in the first place, I was in a state of denial and didn’t believe that I could be injured as I wanted to continue to try and achieve my running goals and continue to get better. However, I became really disappointed and sad when I realized that I was injured and would be unable to compete.”

4. What is your mental state like during this time?

“Being injured and having this back injury is definitely difficult mentally because I was hoping to compete this season. Recently, my mental state has been better as I’ve talked to other injured athletes and I’ve slowly gradually started to go on longer runs with everyone which is supposed to be better for my back as conditioning helps strengthen and retain our muscles.”

Conclusion:

Edith Ung plans on continuing her career in Track as she is not going to let this one bad season stop her from achieving all her goals and enjoying her high school experience. Many athletes, not only in Arcadia High School but all over the world, have experienced similar situations to Edith and have come to understand the time it takes to recover and the importance of accepting the needs of their injured bodies.