00:00Most of these medals are from my outdoor season. This was my first professional meet. This is from
00:08last year's New York City Marathon. I like this medal too. I got first place in my two favorite
00:13events. I've known running. I've known running looking passionately to the most famous athletes
00:21of our time. My soul has always loved running. I ran on the sidewalks like a child missing
00:30her mother. I run every day and it has brought me comfort and enthusiasm. I looked upon the
00:37great Olympians as they danced across the finish line. Using up all my energy like a car on
00:44the empty. My name is Hannah Gadpie. I'm 12 years old and I run track. I write poetry and
00:52I code.
01:03All right. Ten donkey kicks. Hold on. Wait. Hold on. All right. Give me a leg. Lift it up.
01:14No. Don't bend it. Just lift it up. And then go up again. Just keep doing that. We're at
01:20Pelham Bay Park and we're doing track orientation. It's great. The kids are really working out.
01:27They're trying their best. To be new in track, it's just a whole new environment and a new
01:32feeling. When I first started doing the stretches and the workouts, I was not the best. I thought
01:39about quitting because it was just so overwhelming and I didn't know how to do it. I think we're
01:44when you get used to it after a while, you start to like it a lot. When I was always little,
01:50sometimes I would just like run around just for fun. I was just very playful. I put her
01:54in tennis. I put her in golf, swimming, soccer. I moved to the Bronx and my mission was, okay,
02:02we have to find either to program something you're interested in, something. There's no way you can be
02:06in the house and not do anything. So she said, okay, I want to do sports. I was like, all right,
02:10which one? I've tried everything. She was like, but I've always wanted to do track. So I was like, okay.
02:16When I first started track, I often got discouraged when I used to lose.
02:22We would have fights. I'm not going. I can't do this. My feet hurt. I have a headache. She had
02:29headaches like every 10 minutes. She would still go, of course. You're not going to tell me you're
02:33not going to go. Track is really a mental sport. If you get discouraged, it's all in your head.
02:45When we were still in the trial stage of her being on the track club, Velocity,
02:51and she had a meet at the armory and I couldn't make it because my younger, she was in surgery and
02:57my sister sent me the video. I'm on the phone with her at the same time that she's running. So she's
03:02screaming and I'm like, send me the video. She's screaming. She's like, oh my God, you don't
03:05understand what's going on. Something's going on. I don't know. She's amazing. She's great.
03:10Oh my God. So I'm like, relax, calm down. Send me the video. She sends me the video. I'm like,
03:15oh my God, this girl is amazing.
03:18Right then we knew she was going to make the team. We just knew it and the coaches were looking
03:29at us. Something special about this one.
03:34My mom wants me to experience a lot of things and just be around a new environment sometimes
03:58and just get out of my comfort zone. I did black girls coding, which was really interesting.
04:05I got to build my own video games. It was really interesting for me because I'm into technology
04:10and science and it just opened my eyes to different fields of education and career.
04:15I've taken classes at Yale. I never experienced being on a college campus before and it got me
04:20thinking like, I like the Yale campus. Like I might want to go here someday.
04:24I do arts. Poetry was at the Langston Hughes house. It was one of the best experiences I had this summer.
04:30I want her to have her own voice, tell her own story, be the person that she wants to be because
04:35I truly believe that everything she needs to succeed in life is already within her.
04:40It's just a matter of digging deep and getting it out.
04:43The recent Junior Olympics was my second one. My first one was at Randall's Island and that
04:54was my first Junior Olympics. We were there a week and a half and it was just nerve wracking.
05:01You just saw so many people from everywhere, Florida, Texas. I think people from California
05:07with her too. And it was just really, it was scary.
05:19We didn't do as well as we thought she was going to do. She was ranked top 18th in the nation
05:26and I really thought she was going to be top eight. She came off the track and one of our first
05:32questions was, um, did I beat my personal record? And I'm like, I think you did it. She was like,
05:38yes. And I'm like, you're okay. She was like, yeah. She's like, as long as I'm getting better,
05:41I'm doing better. You know, I'll come out next year and you know, I'll just do better.
05:46Hannah! I see Hannah!
05:57Should we give her a water or a Gatorade, Ellie? Come on, you got to make the choice. Excuse me.
06:01Excuse me, excuse me. Let's go this way. Excuse me, sorry. Good job, guys! Go Velocity!
06:07Yay! Woo! Okay. How was it? It was good. Nice. Good job. You're tired. You all right? High five.
06:18Good job, Eddie. My mom's like my best friend. I think she's like one of the funniest people I know
06:25because she makes like life fun. So we'll just do chicken or the oxtail?
06:29She's always there for me and she doesn't miss track meets and she always brings me to
06:38track practice and always pushes me to go harder. And even in track meets, she's the loudest when I
06:45think there. Did you hear me screaming for you today? Let's talk about that. That's what I want
06:48to talk about. I mean, you always scream. Did you see me lifting up Ellie? So that's why I missed you.
06:53Watching someone who found their passion at 11 years old live their dream every day on that field,
07:06on that track, is amazing. When I see her, you know, run and I see her make it to the Junior Olympics,
07:17I know how bad she wanted it. I know how hard she worked for it.
07:23She's just amazing. She's amazing. And she inspires me. Again, not everyone can find out what they
07:30really want to do at such a young age. And to me, that's black girl magic. You can't get no better than that.
07:43I see myself as a successful athlete and a student academically. I want to experience the world.
07:50going to high school, also college and getting older and starting out a life for myself and a career
07:56as I'm growing older.
08:26going to high school, I'm so happy as I was born
08:44right now.
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