Widish’s Running Spree
John Widish, a senior at Arrowhead High School, started his running career as a freshman on the track and field. Before high school, Widish didn’t know what sport he would be interested in because at his elementary school, Stone Bank School, the two main sports, basketball and volleyball, didn’t spark his interests.
“That first day of track practice must’ve been the worst work out of my life. I didn’t know what to expect, and the coaches just ran us the entire time,” Widish says.
Despite his rough start, he stuck through it and has run track and field all four years at Arrowhead High School. He runs the 4×800 meters, 1,600 meters, 800 meters, and 4×400 meters.
Widish says, “During track and field, I want to get my varsity letter. Also I want to just finish my high school running career well, and to have fun while doing it.”
Track and field revealed his passion for running so much so that he joined cross country his sophomore year. Widish ran cross country his sophomore, junior, and senior years. He received his varsity letter his junior year with a time of 18:03 in the 5K.
During the summer between his junior to senior years, Widish ran every day for an average of 50 minutes to train for the next upcoming cross country season and to train for a half-marathon.
In June of 2013, Widish ran the Rock and Sole Half-Marathon in downtown Milwaukee, and he finished with a time of 1:29:33. Widish ranked 56th out of 3,594 in the race, and seventh in his age group of 19 and under.
Widish says, “The half-marathon that I ran was probably one of the hardest things that I have ever done in my life. But I’m really glad that I did it because it was a great experience. I think I did fairly well for only ever running 5Ks through school.”
Widish says, “Originally, I wanted to run a marathon first, but seeing that I’ve never ran something this long, I chose the half-marathon for a starter. Next year I want to do a marathon for sure.”
He says, “I continue to run after season because it helps me stay in shape for the next season that I have coming up, and I enjoy running for fun too.”
Widish believes that his work during the summer helped him achieve his success during his senior year of cross country. During his senior year, he achieved a personal record of 17:30.
Widish ran varsity for the Wisconsin Lutheran Invitational and ran a 17:32
Widish says, “After high school I want to continue to run for fun, but it would be amazing to get to run in college. If I ran in college it would maybe be for a D3 school, but I don’t know if I would be able to. Either way I will still run.”
