“My favorite part about being a runner is the lifestyle,” senior Thalia Solis said. “There’s a lot that goes into it and I just feel like it really allows me to be disciplined while running. While I’m warming up, I listen to music. And then I just meditate on my thoughts on how I’m gonna run the race. I always put on my left spike first, I tie it and then I put on my other spike. Before races I just take a deep breath and know I’ve done this before, it’s not my first rodeo, I can do it again and just know I’m gonna do better than the last time. It’s definitely a mental mindset, really. I try to have the best mindset possible going into races. The most memorable race I ever participated in was last year’s 4×400 at the state meet. There was a lot of controversy if we were gonna run faster than the time we did at regionals but we actually ran six seconds faster. It actually amazing and it was great feeling to know I deserved to be on that relay [team]. I’ve been in the 4×400 for the past three years and it’s an incredible race because it really determines like your team score at the end. When we were at state last year, we needed 19 points to win the state meet so when we won the mile relay, we also won the state team title.”