It's said that pain is weakness leaving the body; when there's no pain there's no gain; that what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger. If all this is true, Jill Hardies has become a veritable Super Girl since she began running.
It all started in fifth grade after she gave up on all other sports. None of them suited her as well as running did, and she had the inspiration of her triathelete father, who never pushed her to run but provided a good example for her.
"Until middle school I played virtually every sport possible, trying to find the one I was good at," Hardies said. "I always was very competitive in them but I didn't really have the talent for any of them and was never very good."
She quickly fell in love with running. She has had strong performances on the local, state and national level, but road hasn't been easy. Injuries have frequently plagues Hardies, from stress fractures to tendonitis in her feet. After suffering a shin and ankle injury last year and growing five inches since the previous season, she placed sixth in the Nike Midwest Regional, missing out on the Nationals by just one place.
"When I crossed the finish line I was devastated," she said. "Even though Nike was a bit disappointing, I was happy overall with my improvement over the course of the season, especially in spite of my injuries and having to cross train a lot instead of running."
Some of her cross training involved swimming and using an elliptical machine. These things kept her in shape while she was unable to run.
"Even though I was happy, I was definitely not satisfied. I didn't get to accomplish my goals of winning state or qualifying for a national meet, so I am going into this upcoming season with a lot of motivation sparked by the disappointments from last year," she said.
If all goes well this year, Hardies dreams of qualifying for Nike and Foot Locker Nationals, placing in the top three at cross country State and running a personal record at the Peoria Woodruff Invitational. Most importantly though, she wants to stay healthy and keep her body in one piece.
"My number one goal is to avoid injuries so I can accomplish my goals that I have had in place these last couple years," she said. "It's my last year so I want to graduate with no regrets."
This expert advises other runners to avoid injuries by knowing what their bodies can take. She's learned from experience that finding the right shoes for your stride, taking ice baths, cross training and listening to your body can help keep you from getting painful injuries.
There have been many injuries along the way, but despite that Hardies said she simply couldn't see herself doing anything else. She learns from the pain and keeps running toward her dreams. It seems that in this case, the pain has indeed made this runner even stronger.
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