Maria Michta-Coffey, racewalker, high school nationals at age 15  “It was my sophomore HS and the previous year our flight was delayed and I missed the race. This time around we boarded on time, the plane started up and then went back to the gate due to some mechanical error, made it down to the race with minutes to spare after checking in and warming up. Lauren and I flew together! I can’t remember being frazzled or anything like that, when I was young I was very naive and really just enjoyed the experiences while being hungry for personal improvement. I’ve tried to keep that same approach over the last decade and a half and feel I’ve stayed pretty true to that.    “The pace I held there under hot humid conditions for the mile is slower than the pace I would go on to sustain for 12.4 continuous miles in my American Record setting 20K! It took almost 12 more years of training for that to happen...which at the time of that high school race was almost doubling my age (I was 15 in the ph...