Eat, sleep and run would be the typical day of a cross-country runner. For cross-country athlete Anna Teigland, her day is more like eat, sleep, run, class, clinical, homework and hopefully find time to jam out to Taylor Swift.
Teigland’s day begins around 3:45 a.m. to head to clinical in Sioux Falls. As a junior nursing major, she enjoys learning the stories of the patients she gets to see and being with her fellow nursing classmates.
When she’s not waking up at the crack of dawn for clinicals, she starts her day by drinking a glass of water and getting her coffee started. Before her 8:25 a.m. class, she’ll make two eggs with cheese, toast and avocado, and do her morning devotions.
Teigland leaves her apartment to head to class, then takes a short lunch break and heads back to class until 3:10 p.m.
“Junior year is notorious for being the hardest year for a nursing major. Just a lot of studying and early mornings,” she said.
For nursing classes this year, Teigland is in medical-surgical nursing, pathophysiology and psychopathology, as well as clinicals.
After her afternoon class, she heads straight to cross-country practice until 5:30 or 6 p.m. When it’s a workout day at practice, it’s an especially tough and interesting day.
“We run anything from mile repeats – no matter rain, sleet, snow and brutal wind – to 400s, 600s and 800s on the track, a 2K or 4K around town, or intervals on the Puddle Jumper Trail,” Teigland said.
Between workout days, the team goes on “support” runs—anywhere between four and nine miles. Saturdays are long run days, where Teigland runs between six to eight miles.
“Practice is a time where I get to unwind and try to forget about the stresses of life for a couple hours. Running can be very therapeutic for me, and even though the hard workout days can suck, I always end up feeling so good afterward,” she said. “Everyone on the team is so positive and comes to practice ready to work, and the team feels like family.”
After practice, Teigland showers, eats dinner at the DeWitt Cafeteria with the team, then starts her homework. When her homework is conquered, her day is done. Before bed, she sometimes reads a chapter of a book or a devotional but usually gets straight to bed to finally sleep.
Outside of cross-country, Teigland is a resident assistant for the apartments. On Mondays, she meets with her fellow apartment RAs for their weekly meeting. Each month, the staff plans an event where each RA hosts their apartment building for food, conversation and toilet paper distribution. She also has weekly one-on-ones with apartment Resident Director Kendall Stanislav.
Teigland looks forward to Tuesday nights where she is part of a Bible study with some of her friends. During the week, she also studies with her friends in the Learning Commons and at Town Square or Fruited Plain in Sioux Center. Despite having non-stop commitments during the week, Teigland also stays busy on the weekends.
“On the weekends, I love to host people for food in my apartment, play board games, and I hope to host a karaoke night soon,” she said.
To take breaks and unwind, Teigland looks to rollerblading with friends, heading to Dutch Mart for Razzles, baking, listening to podcasts and catching up on her favorite shows to destress.
“Although my life is crazy, I am reminded in these moments to slow down and appreciate the people around me,” she said.
After a long day, Teigland remembers her favorite parts that made the day great: accomplishing a workout and getting to stretch, receiving notes of encouragement from the people in her life she loves, spending time with God in the morning and being fueled by multiple cups of coffee throughout the day.
