Still Building Momentum

Angela Perry Spahn has a passion to run. "I love running at SMC," she said.

Spahn has been running since she was in fifth grade. She ran consistently throughout middle and high school. Born in Colorado and raised in California, she went to Palisades Charter High School and was also a runner there. A sophomore at SMC, Spahn is a kinesiology major and wants to become a physical therapist in the future.

She wants to continue her studies either at UC Berkeley or UC Davis. When asked about her coaches, Spahn said, "Coach Barron and Coach Geha are both great. They are very helpful and encourage you to do your best. They are understanding, encouraging, and even help you out with school."

Running is a great sport to stay in shape. Spahn, as a health enthusiast, gave her opinion on obesity and how to prevent it. "Eat healthy, exercise, and stop watching TV and you will see major improvements in your life," she said.
It doesn't matter to Spahn whether it's track or cross country, she loves to run. When asked why she chose running as her sport, Spahn said with a big laugh, "I have no hand eye coordination. I have only hit a baseball once in my life. Cross country and track and field were the sports for me."

Spahn's teammates also make the sport exciting for her. "I love my team. The girls are awesome and we're always doing something. We are always having fun and joking. We share a lot of experiences together and have formed a special bond from running together."

But there are some things Spahn wanted to improve this season. "A couple of races I started out too fast. I'd like to improve my breathing technique. I would like to mentally push myself more and have more positive thinking," she said.

"Also, having more racing experience and being eligible earlier next season will help out a lot."

She also mentioned her most and least favorite courses she ran this semester. "The Glendale course was a hard one to run," she said. "But Pierce was also very hard with its hills, and especially after coming down Puke Hill," which Spahn said was a pretty hard hill to get across.

Spahn had a great semester running and will be part of the track and field team this spring at SMC. Spahn also mentioned that she likes to run track and field more than cross country, because it makes her more motivated and is also more fun as a sport.