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About Me
My name is Mel, and I am a British steeplechase athlete and substitute teacher in the weird and wonderful town of Eugene, Oregon. I discovered the steeplechase soon after falling face first down a flight of 32 concrete stairs in my first term at Princeton University. Escaping with two black eyes, a concussion, but no broken bones, my coach decided that I bounced well enough to throw caution and my total lack of coordination to the wind and enter me into the track race with the greatest potential for devastating injury.
Busking, as we call it in England, funded a large portion of my credits to become a licensed elementary school teacher. Translation: playing the violin in a public place with your case open, hoping that peope drop coins, and not trash, into it. Both have happened.
I now compete for Team Run Eugene, which is quite honestly the most fantastic group of people I've ever had the pleasure of running with every day. I train, teach, and endeavor to follow through on my mission to introduce all students to the steeplechase wherever possible, regardless of available equipment.
I saved the money, green beans and other items I accumulated and recently upgraded to an electric violin, and so I spend my days running along Eugene's beautiful trails listening to the somewhat niche genre of dubstep violin music. Just imagine running along Rexius with Lindsey Stirling's "Anti-Gravity" as your soundtrack- click play to have your mind blown.
It went better than expected, and five years of faceplants later, after competing for Princeton and later for the Univeristy of Oregon, I now have a B.A. in Psychology, an M.A. in Elementary Education, and the ability to clamber quite speedily out of a three-foot water pit and keep on running.
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