Author Spotlight
Sophia Brockmeier
Standing in a huddle of 30 sweaty girls on the lower track, senior Lida Padgett yells out to her teammates:
“Turn left on Tomahawk, right on Village Drive and then loop back around to Porter Park.”
One confused freshman asks Lida to repeat the directions again. Lida smiles.
“Don’t worry, I’ll run with you today.”
Starting off on a four-mile run, Lida helps the new freshman find their way the whole time.
Lida pauses her fifteen-hour personalized weekly training schedule to run with the less-experienced teammate — and it’s not uncommon for her.
Coming onto a new team after two years of middle school training freshman Ella Ash has ran cross country with Lida since the beginning of summer training — covering hundreds of miles around Prairie Village.
“I remember being so nervous the first time I ran with Lida and thinking she was going to be super intimidating since she was so fast,” Ash said. “But in the middle of our run I realized she is really, really nice and supportive so I didn’t have anything to be scared about.”
Through all the relationships Lida has cultivated with her teammates in the past four years she still works toward the same goal: win state senior year.
“Just remember the pain is only temporary.”
Then-sophomore Kate Kowalik comforted then-freshman Lida at the starting line.
“It’s your first meet and you’re just a freshman, no one is putting pressure on you this time.”
But Lida couldn’t stop the tension rising all over her body, making her mouth dry and legs quiver. After practicing all summer, Lida had earned a 21:39 time to get a spot on varsity, but she didn’t know if she could keep them.
“All I wanted to do was stop the gun from going off,” Lida said. “It was so unsettling knowing I couldn’t stop it. I felt like going in a corner of the course and crying for the whole race.”
Left foot and arm forward, Lida stood in anticipation of the gun. Endorphins shot through her body propelling her up hills to the finish line.
She was satisfied with her 21:39 5K time but knew she could get better — it would take 5:30 a.m. practices and dozens of 10-mile long runs to break 20:00 one year later.
Pushing through the last mile of her 5K race, then-sophomore Lida didn’t have anything to worry about — she had trained for this. Lida was about to finish 19th overall out of 91 runners and her body was in the best shape of her life.
Everything — the beautiful 70-degree weather, scenic, wooded course and new personal best — went right that race.
Until she crossed the finish line, and it all became insignificant.
Lida’s close friend then-junior Scarlett Pearlman lay on the ground, gripping her calf with an intensity and strained look on her face indicating more than just a common cramp.
“It was really devastating to see Scarlett in pain and that definitely brought down my mood,” Lida said. “I ran directly over to her mom and grabbed a medic so that they could help her get off the ground.”
Pearlman still remembers Lida throwing her celebrations to the side in order to be with her during the difficult injury.
“It really meant a lot to me to have someone there helping me through it that actually knew what that pain feels like,” Pearlman said. “It was just a really sweet moment that I won’t forget.”
Riding back home on the team bus Lida only partly remembered her seamless performance and 19:57 time — her mind was still on Pearlman.
Sprinting around a 90-degree corner in the brisk autumn breeze at the annual Arkansas Chili Pepper Festival, then-junior Lida glanced up at the clock. Her mind was numb as blurry numbers flashed across her vision as she kept her feet moving — that was when Lida saw it.
18:01 — a new school record and personal best for her 5K race.
Stumbling off of the course trying to catch her breath, Lida sat down to collect her thoughts.
What’s going on? I didn’t even think it was possible to run this fast.
But Lida had no time for tears of joy or victory laps. She went straight from the finish line to the sideline to cheer on her teammates.
Her persistent “GO EAST” and “LET’S GO LANCERS” didn’t go unnoticed — junior Mae Bledsoe has ran every race with Lida since freshman year and gave her the nickname of “cheerleader.”
“I can always count on hearing her voice in the crowds even when no one else comes to my races,” Bledsoe said.
“You got this girl!” a spectator yells from the crowd.
Lida let a smile spread across her face as she got into position — left foot and arm forward. Taking her last deep breaths before accelerating forward, she reviewed the plan previously made with her coach: run closely behind the top three girls at the start of the race until the end when she’d use her last bit of energy to pass them.
Midway through the race Lida was five footsteps behind these top girls at the meet. She had passed all of them last season and was simply conserving her energy so she wouldn’t burn out too quickly. Lida was confused — if she beat them before, why couldn’t she beat them now?
Pumping her legs and arms harder, Lida pulled ahead of the girl currently in first — now leading the race at only the two-mile checkpoint.
By the time the finish line was in sight, Lida’s legs were quaking from 3.1 miles of pushing herself to the limits. Lida’s time was 18:24 — beating the second place finisher by nearly 20 seconds — just short of her personal best: 18:01.
“It felt so good to finally accomplish what I wanted to get done,” Lida said. “It definitely helped to calm my nerves to get a first place finish and realize that I might be a lot more fit than my competitors.”
Shortening her record time of 18:01 and collecting new personal bests are big priorities for Lida going into her final season.
“I just want to keep on improving and make the school record super fast so nobody can get it — especially not in the next 20 years or so,” Lida said.
But Lida also wants to be the ultimate team-mom like Kowalik and Pearlman were for her during their three years running varsity together.
“Lida’s super supportive of everyone and not afraid to be loud, but she also knows how to put her head down and achieve her goals,” Pearlman said. “She’s this super kind, caring and determined runner who wants to succeed herself but also is committed to having the team succeed.”
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