A condensed version of this story was published in print under the headline “Fit Club” on Mar. 11
The 2016 Junior Prom Dress group on Facebook, created to ensure unique outfits, is filled with sequins, glitter and parenthetical notes about needing to diet. As notifications from the group and accompanying self-deprecating comments piled up, junior Namrata Subramanian decided to make a post of her own. On Feb. 8 at 8:42 p.m., she created a poll. The poll was not unlike the ones her cross country teammates often created in a private Facebook group when they wanted to workout over the weekend, but it stood out among the selfies and screenshots that covered the Prom group as far as the finger could scroll.A short blurb accompanied Subramanian’s poll — she took issue with girls dieting before prom and thought Saturday running sessions would be a better solution if people really wanted to get in shape. After 38 likes and 26 excited comments, her weekly workouts were born and if all goes as planned, they will continue long after Prom.
As the poll dictated, Subramanian and a handful of other junior girls met at 4:00 p.m on a Saturday by the MVHS track, clad in T-shirts and colorful running shoes. A few minutes into their first meeting on Feb. 14, six days after the poll, Subramanian encouraged the girls, mostly friends of hers, to start their warm-up — three laps around the track. She was met with groans and reluctant shuffling toward the red lanes, but Subramanian grinned as she bounced over to the track.
“If you make somebody run for a week, all of a sudden they’ll start liking it,” Subramanian said. “Running is an addiction for me now.”
Subramanian wants to spread her addiction, one weekend at a time. Her crew of runners began weary and intimidated and she knows it. But despite Subramanian’s expertise, she still remembers what it’s like to be a rookie. Her first cross country practice was the summer before her freshman year, so she didn’t even know where the track was. She saw a girl wearing spandex, so she followed her.
“Every year when the freshmen come, they sprint the warm-up,” Subramanian said.
While the experienced runners take it easy on the warm-up and go hard during practice, the newcomers show off in the beginning and get worn out by the time practice starts. This is exactly what happened to Subramanian.
Three seasons of cross country later, Subramanian knows to pace herself. She led her disciples through a series of stretches, a condensed version of what she would normally do by herself after a warm-up.
After 40 leg swings, Subramanian led them down the stairs and onto McClellan Road. She was headed for Jamba Juice, once again following the footsteps of her cross country team by mimicking their annual “fun run” to get smoothies.
Subramanian paused her running watch, her “partner for life”, before stopping at a crosswalk. She tracks each of her runs with her watch to monitor her pace and even feels that if she runs without it, the run doesn’t count. Subramanian talks at such an easy, measured pace that it’s difficult to tell that she’s running by listening to her voice. After an inordinate amount of time spent waiting by the crossing button, Subramanian hopped in place as the last few trailing members of her group caught up.
“If I was at practice, I would have crossed by now,” Subramanian said. “But I don’t want to kill you guys.”
She used the pause to gauge her group members.
“How are you guys feeling?” Subramanian said.
“Like I want to kill myself,” junior Shruti Shankar answered with a smirk. The rest of the group laughed before nodding solemnly as they adjusted their ponytails and checked their laces.
After sprinting the last 500 feet of their run and sipping on some Strawberry Surf Riders, Subramanian and a diminished crowd headed to Memorial Park to cool down with some stretches while the group’s other members headed home.
“[Subramanian] is a great person to run with because she doesn’t make you feel terrible about how slow you are,” Shankar said, shaking her head but smiling as she described another experience of running with Subramanian. A year ago, after a two mile run in the sun, Shankar was exhausted but Subramanian had barely broken a sweat. This was her warm-up before heading to cross country practice, where she would really run.
IDC Representative junior Natalie Thé, the only girl in 2016 class office and therefore the creator of the dress group, explained that though she’s always excited to see people’s enthusiasm about prom, she had a few initial reservations.
“[I thought], Why do you need to work so hard just for this one night? But, at the same time, it’s good motivation and you can continue after. You can be like, hey, I really love being in shape and being healthy,” Thé said before grinning and adding, “and you’ll look even better at Senior Ball.”
Subramanian knows she has skeptics and she knows that she can’t convince everyone that they can or should run, but she’s going to try. She referenced one or two comments noting that she shouldn’t have too intense or dangerous workouts, but that isn’t her intention at all. She’s devoted to running and wants to create more converts — if Prom is a catalyst, so be it.
Like the dresses in the group, the lengths of the runs will vary, but Subramanian’s message will remain constant.
“Try it once, whether it’s for Prom or not,” Subramanian said. “The hardest part of running is getting out of your house.”
