The Reflector: A lot of athletes have activities to prepare them for competition. What is your pre-race ritual?
Meggan Hodge: Our team warm-up is kind of a pre-race ritual. We begin our warm-up an hour before the race and structure it exactly the same each time. I run for 15 minutes, and stretch for five. Then, I do drills and stretch for another 10 minutes. Then I do a tempo run to get my heart working.
The Reflector: Can you estimate how many miles do you run in a year?
MH: A year, I have no idea. Per week, right now, 50 miles. In the summer, I try to get up to 70 miles. (*Editor’s estimation: Around 2,900 miles, which eclipses the distance to Hodge’s home in Beaumont, Alberta, by over 300 miles.)
The Reflector: The best kind of running music is…
MH: It depends on what mood I am in. If I feel tired, I look for something to pump me up. We listen to a lot of pop in Canada. If I want to be mellow, I’ll listen to Enya.
The Reflector: What about all the other time?
MH: I listen to a lot of punk. That’s something that I kinda keep to myself (laughs).
The Reflector: What is your favorite punk band?
MH: Right now, Blink 182. I also like Jimmy Eat World, but they are borderline.
The Reflector: What is your favorite downtime activity?
MH: Going to the club. I love going to the Hunt Club. We just hang out, a lot of us, we have get-togethers where we just make meals and sit around and talk, but I like going to the club. We all do. Sometimes we just really need to.
The Reflector: Do you do a lot of dancing?
MH: Yeah, I love it.
The Reflector: You mentioned getting together for meals. Do you have a favorite food?
MH: Tomatoes and chicken.
The Reflector: Together?
MH: Yeah, if I could (laughs).
The Reflector: Fried chicken, baked chicken or grilled chicken?
MH: No, I’m not really into fried. I like baked chicken. The thing with the tomatoes–I don’t know where that came from. The Reflector: Do you ever play pranks on each other?
MH: The other sophomores did prank calls Monday night to anybody for an hour. We have a lot of inside jokes, and a lot of stuff that Coach doesn’t know about (grinning).
The Reflector: Do you ever get tired of running?
MH: Not really. Sometimes I get tired of getting up at 5 a.m., if I have spent the night studying. A lot of times, if I have a hard day at class, all I want to do is run. It’s my therapy.
The Reflector: What do you think about when you run?
MH: Sometimes I think about the next race, or a lot of it at school is organizing what I have to do that day, what I have to study.
The Reflector: What is the biggest difference between your home in Alberta and here?
MH: The weather. A lot of people think it is cold all the time, but we get heat waves. The big difference is the humidity and the way people talk, too. In some of my classes, I will be taking notes and sometimes have problems understanding what the teacher is saying.
The Reflector: What do you miss most about home? Snow?
MH: Well, I miss snow a lot now, because it is starting to snow up there. I used to snowboard, but tried to get away from it because it might injure me. I miss my family, too. They’re busy, I’m busy; we don’t get to talk a lot. The reasons I go home are to see my family and play in the snow (smiling).