“My mom, she went through a lot when she was younger. Her dad died when she was 15. They were originally from Germany, but they lived in Australia and after her dad died they had to pack up and move to Canada. English was not my mom’s first language and it was definitely hard. She had to work her ass off literally for everything so it’s an inspiration because a lot of what I’ve had in life, I’m very lucky, I’m very fortunate, it’s been handed to me. And track is the one area where I feel like I can make her proud, because I have to work for it. Nobody else can hand me the ability to be fast and run with my heart. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
There’s 1 moment in particular. It was my first season with a track team, with a club team. I was just a nobody in track, there wasn’t a lot of expectations but I knew that I could do it but I haven’t proven myself so there’s no reason for anyone else to believe me. The only one that really did believe in me was my mom. And I remember her standing at the finish line, screaming ‘Let’s go Tegan, Let’s go’, and I got in the blocks for my 200m and I ended up getting 2nd and I made my first Provincial team to go to Nationals. I turned around on the finish line and I couldn’t believe the time that I had ran, I PB’d huge. All I see is in the stands was my mom crying, and I knew in the moment I had actually made her proud.
I would thank her for not letting me give up even though it wasn’t easy the last 2 years and after going through an injury, and the constant battle of having to try to move forward even though I didn’t want to move forward. I just wanted to be in still in time and be in my little bubble. She always taught me it’s important to get out of your comfort zone and try and move past it. You can never stay still in time. Even though something bad might happen or something good might happen, it doesn’t define who you are as a person, it’s what you do after that is what defines you.” – Tegan Wilson, Canadian Sprinter with @ubctbirds (2/4)
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