Name: Timothy McLeod
School: Indiana University
Major: English and Biology
Coach: Ron Helmer and Rebecca Walter
Age: 21
HIGH SCHOOL PR’S
1600 – 4:17
3200 – 9:03
5000– 14:41
CURRENT PR’S
3000 – 8:24
8,000 (cross) – 24:37
10,000 – 30:02
It was just over four years ago that former Episcopal star Tim McLeod shocked the Florida running community with his national caliber track season. In the spring of 2004, McLeod took his running to the next level with state leading performances in the 3200m and 1600m in times of 9:00 and 4:17. For his senior campaign McLeod took his training to Tucson, Arizona where his progress led him to sign with Indiana University.
McLeod, one of the most overlooked talents ever to come out of Florida, races and trains with insurmountable passion and faith. His training in Bloomington has changed immensely and rather unexpectedly since high school. Aside from the higher mileage and specific interval workouts, the daily chores of being a division one athlete struck McLeod by surprise.
“I’ve had to start viewing my training as something that takes the entire day,” McLeod said. “When you go to bed and wake up, what and when you eat, keeping consistent stretching and icing routines, as well as the implementation of drill and weight room routines. College is so much more competitive, that you have to train more, and you have to ensure that you’re allowing your body to recover enough to make that training effective.”
Since arriving to Bloomington McLeod has matured greatly as a runner and a person. Though he doesn’t feel his PR’s have improved as much as he’d of liked, his knowledge and independence have flourished.
“I really love running, and that love has been tested and refined since I haven’t had as many successes to bolster it automatically,” he said. “As a person, it’s been incredibly important for me to be far away from my family (whom I love dearly), because that distance forced me to actually become my own master. I get to make good decisions and bad ones, and evaluate it all for myself.”
Looking back on his high school career it’s difficult for McLeod to pick a defining moment or memory.
“Depending on the day I could say it’s all the friends I made from being in the running community, or maybe the strange things your body whispers to you when you’ve run 18 miles and you’re almost completely dehydrated, or maybe the smiles of my family after a particularly good race and realizing that all the pain you’ve gone through both training and choking down every one of eight laps of a 3200 has made you all completely happy for the night,” he said.
McLeod has had to overcome numerous obstacles in his three years at Indiana University. He has doubted himself, coaches and God Himself as a result of finding no visible success in his races over the past few years. However, he feels the adversity has made him realize why he started running in the first place.
“When I started running it was just because the sensation of moving quickly was fun in ways that nothing else can be,” he said. “Then when I started beating people that was an easier thing to grab hold of, but now that that motivation isn’t as consistent, I’ve had to seek joy in the ways that people who never won anything have.”
Many may argue with McLeod’s feelings towards disappointing performances. Last cross country season he finished 103rd in the whole nation and was the top finisher on his team at the NCAA Championships. However, friends and family will attest, Tim holds himself to a higher standard and never settles for what he feels is a sub par performance. Running has changed his life and he puts his heart into it every second of the day. Running has shown him many things that he could not possibly summarize in one article.
“If I were to highlight the most important lesson, though, it would be that the Almighty loves watching His children overcome obstacles,” he said. “It’s not even whether we win, it’s simply that the act of battling and subduing that darker elements of human nature is intrinsically redemptive. It doesn’t have to be running, but that’s the place I learned it, and I’m trying to make it spill into the rest of my life as well.”
As far as the future for running or employment goes, McLeod’s uncertain but not frazzled.
“I’m actually not sure at all,” he said. “I think about what I’d like to do as a career, but I’m not going to stress myself out with it right now. The Lord has a way of providing us with opportunities when it’s time.”