The Transition: Taylor James' Journey From Niwot To Stanford

I felt very supported by my teammates and my coaches throughout the entire thing. I just happened to be injured for all of my freshman year, so I didn't have a great year running wise - I actually barely ran in general. I had a stress injury, I got COVID as well as a heart related issue from that... So I didn't see much of the track which was very unfortunate.

However, it was super exciting to come back this year as a "freshman" eligibility wise and be able to just run in general - I was really just happy to be on the track. It was definitely a rough start to my college running career, but I felt very supported throughout the entire thing and I'm so happy to be back where I'm at now.

LC) What has it been like training and competing with the Stanford athletes?

TJ) It's been so wonderful to train with such a high level group of girls at Stanford. I think it's definitely a bit of a newer experience to have this huge group of girls that I'm running with, no matter what type of training I'm doing, and although it was a new experience, I feel as though it was something that I was able to get used to fairly quickly.

Coming from Niwot especially made this easy, there were always a ton of girls that were competing at the higher level, so honestly, I've never felt like I was in this super high intensity environment at practice - the atmosphere is just very inviting.

We are here to enjoy the thing that we all love and to pursue our goals together - we work on that together as a unit and it's a great and fun environment. I enjoy the challenge!

LC) Take me through your journey of qualifying for NCAA's and what it took to get to that point.

TJ) So I really chilled out this past indoor season. I wanted to make sure that I wasn't over-doing it in terms of a ton of intensive racing too quickly since I barely ran last year. My coaches didn't want to rush me, especially knowing that I had the entire outdoor season ahead of me. We wanted to build enough base to be able to compete at a higher level during outdoor and not get injured again.

Throughout the outdoor season, I was feeling really good - with each meet I felt like I was really getting back to my old self. I got a couple of baby PR's and for me that was so exciting - at the end of the day, all that I can do is work on being the best version of myself, both within athletics or just as a person in general.

I'd really say that the PR game is what drives me - always just thinking to myself "what can I do to improve this race and get a new PR?" I always want to continue to challenge myself - and I'd say that having this mentality really put me in the position to qualify for regionals.

LC) Overall, how was your first NCAA experience?

TJ) At regionals, I was lucky to have a couple of great races. My teammate Roisin Willis brought me to great times in both the 800 prelim and final. It was definitely a really big surprise as I was a time qualifier for the NCAA National Championship.

I never really put the pressure on myself, I kind of just go out there, run hard, and do my best - that is all I can do. There were so many emotions once I realized that I had actually qualified. All of the emotions from the previous year with not being able to run really set in - obviously running is really important to me. I worked really hard all year to get back to this point - so to make a comeback like that was really exciting.

In terms of nationals, it was just such a wonderful opportunity. I was so happy to be there and really just wanted to live in the moment and I feel like I really did that. It was incredible to be able to race at a meet that I used to watch as a kid, I never fully saw myself actually running there, I couldn't have even imagined it. It wasn't my best race tactically - definitely was a new environment, I went out at a pace that I was not used to, so I'd say it was an incredible learning experience.

I learned so much from that race and definitely just lived in the moment. I felt so much support from my teammates, family, and everyone back home at Niwot. I'm definitely hungry for more and I'm excited to take what I've learned from this experience into next year.

LC) A request from Bobby Reyes - favorite Radiohead song?

TJ) My music taste is heavily influenced by my dad, so I'd say I listen to a lot of deep cut, indie, new wave, dark wave, or 80s type of music... Stuff that Bobby listens to as well! Somehow it came up and we discussed it back in high school.

My favorite Radiohead song is Decks Dark!