After opting out of competitive soccer this fall, senior Alexa Posel turned to running as a way to stay fit. Following 13 weeks of training, Posel competed in her first race on Saturday, Oct. 25 at the Nashville Half Marathon.
Posel played on her club soccer team, Inter Atlanta, from age 13-17. But as the demands of balancing school, family and friends became greater, she became overwhelmed and stressed. Posel said she prefers running because it offers her an outlet, rather than an added obligation.
“At first the transition from not playing soccer was honestly really difficult,” Posel said. “But having something that I was so focused on and could divert my time to helped a lot. Running is really freeing in the way that you can just escape into your surroundings and not have to focus on anything going on in your life.”
Posel said her interest in running was sparked after seeing several runners posting on social media.
“Running a half marathon has always been something I’ve wanted to do,” Posel said. “But really just seeing all of the influencers online running- and the lifestyle of prioritizing physical health- is what got me into it.”
Posel trained with her brother, Zach Posel, a junior at the University of Georgia. The two followed parallel training plans independently, with the end goal of running together in Nashville. Posel said having her brother to train with, even from a distance, motivated her to stay consistent with her training.
“Getting up after a long day of school to go on a run was sometimes really difficult,” Posel said. “Even though we weren’t together, having Zach to train with kind of just helped me to stay accountable.”
The two stayed connected virtually throughout their training process. Zach Posel said the two supported each other from afar, making the experience feel less isolated.
“We only ran together once the entire time we were training,” Zach Posel said. “So getting to run together at the end was that much cooler. But even during our training we would always send each other videos talking about how our runs went and also sharing our scores through the running app Strava helped us to compare and maintain cohesive training.”
Posel completed the half marathon with a time of two hours and five minutes. Posel’s dad, Greg Posel, credited her time to the hard work and dedication she showed during her training.
“She made up her mind that she was going to run it and she was committed,” Greg Posel said. “She rarely skipped a training session and didn’t really deviate at all. Even on weekends and early mornings, she was just consistent the whole time.”
Junior Lily Neff, also ran the Nashville half marathon. Although the two did not run together, Neff said they supported each other throughout training.
“Our friendship really originated when we found out we were both running the half marathon the same weekend,” Neff said. “From there we got closer and really bonded over our training. We were both super supportive of one another which definitely helped with the mental aspect of race preparation.”
Leading up to the race, Greg Posel reached out to Posel’s close family and friends and asked them to send a motivational voice recording and pick a song that reminded them of Posel. Greg Posel constructed these recordings and songs into a playlist that he surprised Posel with on the morning of her race that she could listen to during her race.
“I reached out to people that I know mean a lot to her and asked them if they would contribute,” Greg Posel said. “I think in total, there were over 40 people included in the recording.”
Posel said the recordings inspired her to stay strong and encouraged her to finish the race.
“I honestly almost started crying when I first heard the voice recordings,” Posel said. “Hearing the songs and hearing people cheer me on even from afar, was really uplifting and really got me through some of the hard parts of the race.”
Posel plans to play for the school soccer team this upcoming spring season. Until then, she said she will continue running to maintain her physical fitness, but also as a way to prioritize her mental health.
“Doing something that is outside is such an important thing in finding an outlet for yourself to decompress,” Posel said. “I’m going to keep running definitely so that I am in shape for the soccer season, but also to continue to focus on myself mentally. Running has been a huge part of my life for the past few months and it honestly has changed my life.”
