Pearland junior Madison Peters relishes the pain of distance running. Physical distress is cause for achievement.
“I know that’s weird to say, but it pushes me,” said Peters, one of the best distance runners—if not THE best—in the Greater Houston area. “After I finish a workout, I always feel accomplished. I never regret doing a workout.”
Peters and running are an arranged marriage of sorts. Pain has been a constant partner of Peters during her running career but not once has there been a thought to separate.
Like any tried-and-true relationship, Peters and running continue to push on through.
Diabetes plagued the early portion of her high school career. Peters passed out at the regional cross country meet during each of her freshman and sophomore seasons. As a sophomore, she had a comfortable lead up before she fell with about 800 meters to go.
At the regional meet her freshman year, Peters learned she had diabetes. But doctors told her dehydration was the main problem. Then she passed out again as a sophomore. Drinking a Pedialyte with added sugar before the race was apparently the culprit.
“It was really tough. I just wanted to feel better,” Peters said. “I wasn’t upset about it or anything. It’s mainly just an inconvenience. You have to pay more attention than other people to what you put into your body. But it was just something I had to do if I wanted to be better.”
Peters altered her diet drastically. She eats turkey bacon in the mornings for breakfast. Chicken and steak are constants for protein. On days before meets, Peters has chicken alfredo or spaghetti.
On the advice of a nutritionist, Peters eats more vegetables like broccoli, green beans and spinach. If she desires anything sweet, it has to be sugar-free. She takes insulin and checks her blood sugar three times every day.
“It’s helped a whole lot,” said her father and Pearland cross country and track and field coach Demetrius Peters. “She’s eating the same stuff over and over to help regulate her sugar. Just seeing her times, it seems everything comes easier for her now. Her times are really average when she’s not eating the right stuff.”
There’s been nothing average about Peters this season.
Peters has won all seven of her regular season cross country meets heading into the District 23-6A meet on Tuesday. Her latest win was the prestigious Nike South elite girls division on Oct. 1, which she won by posting a time of 17:06.10 in the 5000 meter run. She set her personal record with a time of 17:00.76 at the Southlake Carroll Invite on Aug. 27.
“I feel very confident,” Peters said. “I feel I have my blood sugar figured out finally. I’ve put in more mileage. I’m no longer tired during runs. Mentally, I’m not intimidated by others I’m racing against. This year, I’m just worried about my own race.”
Peters has never felt better, and it’s showing.
This summer, she put in a lot of “over distance” that Demetrius credits for her success. In past offseasons, Peters ran 30-40 miles per week. This summer, she ran 40-50 per week.
Peters, 16, has learned to control what she can control. That’s her diet and her training. The Peters family is religious and believes everything happens for a reason.
Everything is God’s plan.
“We’ve focused on a lot of prayer and preparation,” Demetrius said.
Peters has always been a natural on the course or track. She ran her first mile race at seven years old, finishing with a time of 6:30.
By nine, she was training year-round with a club team. She won the 23-6A cross country meet as a freshman. At the district track and field meet later that spring, she won the 800-meter, 1600-meter and 3200-meter races, becoming the first Pearland athlete to accomplish the trifecta.
Last season, Peters won her second straight district cross country title by more than two minutes and qualified for the state track and field meet in the 1600 and 3200 runs, placing seventh and sixth, respectively.
Peters wants to run in college like Demetrius, who was a distance runner at Prairie View A&M. But she has other goals before that time comes.
She wants to win state this year—not just qualify—and compete at a national meet.
“She’s very competitive,” Demetrius said. “You have people who are great athletes. She’s the one who really works for it. She will compete until she has nothing left in her.”
Peters’ love for the sport continues to grow.
Not only is she feeling healthier on the course, but the unique dynamic between Peters and Demetrius is also improving. Before, the two would let things carryover from the course or track to the car drive home and into the house. It made for a tense environment.
“From the time she was seven until she was 12 or 13, I’d talk about the race, even driving home or at home,” Demetrius said. “It put a strain on the relationship because it was always coaching, even when we left the track.”
Now they have learned to differentiate father-daughter from coach-athlete. Now they only talk track or cross country on certain days. On others, they don’t talk about it at all.
Demetrius said he thinks his daughter loves the sport even more now because of it.
“It’s still tough sometimes, but it’s definitely better,” Peters said. “If I have a bad race, we don’t talk about it as much on the ride home or at home. He’ll just be my dad. It helps me a lot to not always think about it 24/7. We both still have things to work on, but we talk more and are more open about things. We trust each other.”