» A&A with Megan Wright

1. How did you get involved with athletics?

I’ve grown up in a very active family and did a lot of different sports as a youngster. My first start with track was the Edmonton Journal Games in elementary school. I was actually the second slowest out of everyone that tried out that year; the slowest was one of my best friends! I made it as an alternate the next year and my last year I was determined to be on the team so I did some secret training. I was embarrassed to be seen training so I would wake up early and run around the block as fast as I could then go back to bed in time for my parents to wake me up.

A few years later I started to run for fun and to help cross train for other sports. One of my sports I did was swimming but had a lot of shoulder troubles so my parents encouraged me to switch sports and I joined the Edmonton Harriers at age 14. Every year after that, I think I loved the sport more and more and it has slowly become the center point of my life.

2. How would you describe your inner drive that propelled you during your athletic career?

I think the Canadian Olympic Committee motto of “the fire within us” is very powerful. I do not know if it possible to describe the inner drive. I love to train. I love easy runs with friends and family but I thrive off of the intense workouts that I consider my bread and butter.  In order to best describe my inner drive, I think you would have to ask those around me. I simply love to run, race, and train and constantly want to do things a bit better then I did before. I set very high goals. I trust my team (coach, strength coach, team mates, husband) to help push me to get there, but at the end of the day know that it is up to me to get there.

3. What is a personal accomplishment that you are most proud of?

There are a lot of things that I am proud of, and there are more out there that I wish to forget. But it’s those good days when you know you ran as hard as you could on that day and were rewarded with a good time or a good place (and a great day to get both!)  Running a personal best in the Olympics was a huge moment for me. It was a very emotional ride to get to Beijing and being hurt and knowing that everyone I knew was cheering me on was a lot of pressure. I had a lot of things riding against me that day but although I hope to run a lot faster in the future, I know without a doubt I ran the best I could on that day. That is something I will always have and always be proud of.

4. In looking forward beyond London 2012 to Rio 2016 & beyond, what priorities should ‘athletics’ collectively work together on to evolve & grow the sport?

This is a very tough question for me. I think the biggest thing is keeping it athlete focused, and simply believing that there is a lot of potential in our country for a lot of success.  I think it is silly to only focus on certain events because there has been success in those events, nor I do understand why they have already highlighted certain athletes for 2016, when we are still 18 months away from 2012. A lot can change in 6 years! I feel that a lot of what is going on with athletics is very retroactive instead of proactive. Athletes need to know that people believe in them, and they need a little along the way to get to the top.

5. If you could change one specific thing about our sport in Canada, what would you change? and why?

I think I would change this constant fear of over training. I hear it all of the time when I am around the track at home about how wrong it is to train. I think that there is so much talent but for some reason people are afraid to work and develop it. It is not easy, and that’s what most of us love about the sport. The human body is pretty awesome and can adapt to stress if given the tools to recover and a good solid training plan.