Seven miles a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year – this is just a small part of the workout senior Alena Albertson put herself through to be able to run on the beaches at the Chaminade University of Honolulu.

Albertson said that running became her favorite hobby after she was consistently pushed by her coaches and teammates since the seventh grade to achieve more.

“Starting off, I joined cross country because I wanted to join a sport and get involved,” Albertson said. “But after becoming somewhat good at running, I started to set a lot of high goals for myself, which I thought were unachievable at the time, but look where we are now.”

Albertson said she didn’t want to carry on with her cross country career past high school, but over time, she started to push herself harder and harder to make herself the best she could be and achieve her new dream of running for a university. According to Albertson, being able to create that experience was not easy.

“Achieving my dream was hard, it came with a lot of ups and downs,” Albertson said. “Waking up at 5 a.m. for hard practices, then pushing myself to run more after school was super hard, but having my teammates along the way pushing me to be the best I could be was what made it worth it.” 

Albertson started seriously running cross country for two years. Her team went to Regions every year, placing sixth last year and third this year. Albertson said that it was a ton of pressure and hard work, but it was worth it in the end.

“My team and I practiced twice as hard,” Albertson said. “I didn’t know how well we were going to do since it was really tough competition, but I am super happy with the outcome which made me want to pursue my goal even more of running for a university.” 

When Albertson began the applications for a college athlete, she said her coach helped her out a lot and that it was easier than she expected it to be. She sent in her best times for long distance races to the schools of her choice and then waited to hear back from them. After she heard from multiple schools, Albertson made the decision to run at the Chaminade University of Honolulu.

“It’s a bittersweet feeling moving all the way to Hawaii this summer,” Albertson said. “I wasn’t sure if I wanted to stay in Texas or not, but then I realized Hawaii was the best option for me and I couldn’t wait to start my new journey.”

Albertson said she is excited to learn many new things and experience life outside of Cedar Park. If she decides along the way that she does not want to run anymore, Albertson said she signed a contract with the school saying they cannot take away her scholarship if she gets injured and that she could still study environmental science with a minor in biology.

“I am going to miss all my friends and coaches,” Albertson said. “But I am super excited to start this new journey with my new team. And who knows, I might even pick up surfing along the way.”