Sept. 29, 2008
With a family with a running background, ribbons earned at age two, and gold medals won by age four, it may be not be a stretch to say that Erica Weitz could run before she could crawl. A junior, the cross country and track and field runner was born to run, and now at UCF, she finds herself back where it all started years ago.
Weitz, who came to UCF from Morganville, N.J., lived in Florida until she was seven years old. She recently found out that when she competes this season at the brand-new on-campus UCF Cross Country Complex, she will be running on the same ground where her career started years ago as a two-year old.
"When I was little I competed in a lot of kids' races and won a lot of ribbons," Weitz said. "I was looking through them not too long ago and the earliest one I found was from the UCF Pegathon in 1990, when I would have been two years old. I do not really remember the race, and I was shocked because I had no idea I was at UCF when I was that young, and little did I know at the time I would be going to school here."
Her career was stamped with a victory by age four, when she claimed a mile run in her hometown of Mount Dora, Fla., and became the first child under the age of 10 to claim the trophy. With a quick look into her family background, Weitz' success comes as no surprise.
Weitz' father John was a collegiate runner at Bucknell University who also ran road races and marathons after graduation, including a victory in the Smoky Mountain Marathon in Tennessee. Her mom still runs 30 minutes every day, and her brother is a high school soccer player who also runs road races.
"When I was younger my parents would go on night runs, and I would be in the stroller," Weitz said. "I would get jealous and get out and start running with them. My parents got me into running at an early age, putting me into kids' races, and I was always really excited about it, more than any other sport."
So what is it about running that Weitz loves so much?
"Once you get into it you feel so good, and the pain just goes away like you are in another state of mind," Weitz said. "The [runners' high] happens to me a lot, and you get such a good feeling afterwards. That is part of the reason why I love it, even though it is painful at times."
The hospitality management major wants to get into the planning and carrying out of sporting events, but she always thinks there will be a place in her life for running.
"When I am out of college I want to run in marathons," Weitz said. "I want to run as long as I can, so hopefully I will not get injured."
Weitz has been running since just after she could walk, so it is a good bet to say she will not be giving it up easily.