Running into a New School Year

While most Hope students were squeezing in time with family and friends during the last week of summer, Kelly Peregrine, a senior here at Hope and captain of the cross country running team, was bonding with her teammates on the mosquito-filled cross country trails. Peregrine stuck to her strict workout plan this summer, despite nursing two injuries, in an effort to make MIAA First Team All Conference. She hopes that the team dynamic will remain consistent, stating to her team, “You have to endure the hard work that you’re going to put in and the pain that you’re going to face.” Peregrine shows just how serious she is about bringing home the conference title for the fifth time in a row.

At a young age, in the third grade to be exact, Peregrine began to follow the example that her parents set by choosing an active lifestyle and decided to join Girls on the Run, a non-profit organization that helps girls develop a healthy lifestyle through interactive participation. Since then she has been hooked on running and now, glorifying God through her sport. While Peregrine loves running, her focus during workouts now includes cross-training because of a herniated disc in her lower back, a chronic injury that requires low-impact activities to prevent further degeneration. This summer, Peregrine decided to sprinkle bicycling and aqua jogging into her routine a couple of times a week, as well as one rest day to keep healing her injuries and give her back a break between running days. Because of this, she put on more mileage when she went running. Peregrine says that she no longer takes advantage of the gift of running as she did previously.

2019 marks Peregrine’s fourth year doing summer camp with the cross country team. Her teammates brought a solid foundation of summer training, the first step to accomplishing their team goals. When asked about the drawbacks of summer camp, she jokingly pointed out all of the mosquitoes, then seriously concluded that there is nothing bad about coming together as a team. The plentiful benefits include creating a team dynamic and pushing her teammates to do their absolute best.
Peregrine said, “Believe and know that you have so much more potential than you think you do.” She believes that most of running is a mental game, tricking her brain into letting her body push its limits. She said, “Running is very much a mental and emotional sport.” This is exactly what she tries to convey to the freshmen coming into an undefeated team this year. Because runners don’t have different positions on a field to train for, they can all do the same workouts, creating a sense of community and accomplishment at the end of a training session.

Personally, Peregrine hopes to make it to MIAA First Team All Conference, Academic All Conference, and All Regional (top 35 in region). As a team, she wants to win the Conference Title again, place in the top two at Regionals, and top 15 at Nationals. The most important team goal is creating the team dynamic that she wants to see this year, one of unity and positivity.

On the trail, Kelly will be using her talents to glorify God and lift up her team. If you’re trying to spot her around campus, her housemate suggests looking for contagious joy, spunkiness and her friendly positivity.