Hello everyone, my name is Grant Inskeep and I am a first time blogger. I would like to thank Todd Grasley and MileSplit Illinois for giving me the opportunity to blog for their website. I currently live in Dunlap, Illinois and attend Peoria Notre Dame High School. I play soccer every fall and run track in the spring. This past soccer season, my team went 22-2-2 and then, went on to win our second state title and fourth in program history. I was the starting forward scoring two of the three goals in the final game. It was such a thrill to end my soccer career the way I did. Now I can focus on track, my main sport. I am a mid-distance runner with my favorite event being the 800m. As part of my training, I also run the 400m or 1600m.
I began running my 7th grade year in grade school. My mom noticed how much faster I was than most kids on the soccer field and basketball court. She thought it would be a good idea for me to join the grade school track team and I did. Since I had no interest in running cross country at the time, I decided to compete in the 1600m and 800m races. Even though I had never run, I was fortunate enough to have a grade school coach that worked with me individually. At the end of my two seasons, I was seeded first in the 800m and won state titles both years!
Needless to say, when high school came around, I had high expectations for myself. First, I wanted that freshman 800mm record and I wanted to qualify for state. I beat the freshman record of 2:07.2 by over six seconds with a time of 2:01.0 and got second at conference behind one of my teammates. I ran my 2:01.0 at the sectional meet but did not qualify because I placed fifth. Sophomore year, I wanted the JV 800m record and make it to state. This year was the first time I would go on to break 2:00. Not only did I just break 2:00, but I flew past that record in one meet running a 1:57.67. I was ready for sectionals this year. I was in fifth place rounding the last turn and I knew I had one last surge of energy to give it all I had. I ended up winning sectionals in a time of 1:58.11 and qualified for state! State was an unbelievable experience. I made it down to the ‘Blue Track’ in Charleston, Illinois and there was so much talent all on one campus. I was running against the top runners in the state. Prelim day was nerve-racking but when the gun went off I was focused, focused on getting into the finals. I was the first of two heats and wasn’t sure if my time of 1:58.07 would make it into the finals. I watched as the second heat finished and my time was the twelfth best! I had made it to the finals. The 800m final race was tight all twelve runners within three seconds of each other. I was determined to medal but had a rough start and there were so many runners I was not used to it. I was tripped up at the 500m and I kept my head down but died towards the 75m placing 11th. It was 
overwhelming but I was happy to have competed in such a fast race and get some experience. My junior year was full of high expectations. I wanted the school record in the 800m and 400m and wanted to place in the top three at state. I was running around 2:00 outdoors and didn’t break 2:00 until later in the season, but nonetheless I was ready come sectionals. Determined to defend my title, I went out fast with a 54 second first lap leading the pack. Then next lap was all-mental and I kept pounding it down. In the final 100, the runner in second place was on my shoulder and I looked forward to the finish trying to hold him off. As I crossed the finish line, I glanced at the clock, which read 1:54. I was in disbelief. My official time was 1:55.23 but I had beaten my previous best by over two seconds. State was next weekend and I was seeded second going into prelims. I won my heat and was the only one from my heat to qualify for finals. Another bad start led me to play catch up the whole race during the final. I ended up placing 11th for the second straight year. I was devastated and I had only achieved one of my goals for the season that was to beat the school record, which I did by 1.99 seconds.
This year, my senior year, will hopefully be a different story than finishing 11th again. I hope to break the 400m and 1600m school records as well as my own 800m record and place first at state. It has been a good start to the season with about 400 miles under my belt since soccer ended in late November till early March I am anxious to compete again. In addition to running, I do olympic lifts and plyometrics twice a week to help with my quick trigger muscles.
On February 8, 2013, I signed my letter of intent to run cross-country and track & field at the University of Missouri. I cannot wait to begin training under Coach Joe Lynn and become a Tiger. The past few weeks have been stressful with finals, since my school is on trimesters. Finals were February 28th and March 1st. but now I am on my way to Arizona to get out of dodge, run some hills, and stay warm. My first meet is in two weeks and it’s an indoor meet. As a team, we only attend one indoor meet and the IPTT finals meet. I feel like those indoor meets are there for me to get used to running fast again since I have been doing long runs all winter with a few stride-outs every other day. I cannot wait to write again, but now it is time to relax over my break.
Thank you for reading and Go Tigers!