By Sean Barber:

Challenge. It's what we are all facing now. Challenges to get work done at home or stay motivated to workout. It's not easy for anyone. We have persevered before and we will continue to persevere. Here's a glimpse into the challenges I've faced throughout my life in the form of track. 
 
As a 6th grader, I went out for track, following in my brother Beau's footsteps. We would get bussed to Flatville, Illinois (trust me it's extremely flat) because that is where the junior high was and in Flatville they didn't have a track. Since they didn't have a track, our workouts consisted of what we could practice at so our workouts would occur by running around the block and when it was too cold out we would run down and backs in the gym or doing a jump circuit inside. Our blocks were essentially a piece of metal with some leather on it. What I'm getting at here is that we didn't have much, but we made do. I remember my first track meet ever like it was yesterday. We were at Chrisman, Illinois. My coach came up to me before the meet and said, "I put you in long jump today. I know you've never done it before, but we will get a mark and see how you do". Long story short, I won the combined 6th and 7th-grade division. Let's fast forward through those years and move to high school.
 
Freshman year of high school I came in pretty cocky, you know, as all freshmen do. I was definitely fast compared to other freshmen in school. I ended up being on the varsity relays for the 4x100 and 4x200. It was towards the end of the year and our relay teams had a solid chance to go to state. It was the week before sectionals and we ran a 4x200 at a meet for practice. Me, wasting ALL of my energy in the first 100, died the next 100. As I was handing off to the next guy in the relay, I told him, "slow, slow." The next thing I knew, he came to a complete stop as did I which ended in me tearing my meniscus as a freshman in high school. So that was really painful, like couldn't walk on it painful. I went to my physical therapist and got some medicine and a lot of work done to be able to run. And I ended up running at the state meet two weeks later. To sum that meet up, we didn't get the baton exchanged and were disqualified. 
 
Sophomore year, still running on a bad knee, was my second year of cross country. My brother did it all four years of high school and had a personal record of 17:51. In what was my last high school cross country race I beat him. You know how much by? 1 second. Let's wrap up my sophomore year here. We went to state in the 4x100 and 4x200, we didn't advance to finals, but we had a lot of people not graduating, so we were going to have a strong team. Don't forget that I was still running on a torn meniscus.
 
Going into my junior year, I fractured my fibula during a sprint workout. After that, my knee on my other side was bothering me so bad and I knew I would be out for a while, I figured it'd be best to get it checked out. Finally, after 2 (TWO) years of pain, it was diagnosed that I had torn my meniscus. I went into surgery, the last thing I remember was being on the bed in the operating room, then my next memory was having a wrap on my knee in a chair. The doctor said I had started to whittle down my meniscus, so he took out more than expected. 75% in total was removed from my right knee. I started doing pool workouts my brother gave me. Then once I could run again, I went full at it. My junior year of high school was by far my best. Our team was vying for a state title, going into sectionals we were killing it. Then our fastest guy, Orion a.k.a. "O", strained his hamstring in his prelim at sectionals. Thankfully, we had backups that filled in and got us to state. At state, we managed to get 3rd in the 4x400, and 6th in the 4x100. I worked harder than ever that year, and it truly showed. At this point, I started looking at colleges and chose UIC. 
 
Still training hard going into my senior year, I was confident. My goal was to get 1st at state, it didn't matter what in. It was coming into the week before state and they wanted to take me out of the 4x400 relay because I hadn't been performing that well. Even though I still had one of the fastest times out of everyone. I had to "prove myself", in the same meet that I tore my meniscus my freshman year. I get the baton, I blast off. I was on a mission; you've never seen someone so determined. I was pumping down the backstretch, and it happened. The ONE thing you don't want to have happen in a relay; I dropped the baton. It got caught on my uniform and went flying back, while I went flying forward. I managed to stop myself, go back and pick the baton up and finish the race. But I was defeated at that point. I had worked so hard to get it taken away. Thankfully, I had one coach who believed in my ability. To be put in a situation with all the marbles on the line, at the state meet. And what did I do when I got there? I performed. (You can check it out here)
 
If you wonder how I have most of my track career on camera, you can thank my mom, Peggi. Both her and my dad have come to EVERY meet I've competed in. Without their undying support and love, I would not be at the place I am in my life. 
 
Back to the track story though
Now we hit college, or so I thought. But going into college my right knee, the meniscus knee as I call it, was having some pain. I wanted to get it checked out, so I got back into the doctor and got an MRI done. The doctor was good friends with my mom and sent her a message that she should come in with me. I was thinking to myself, why would I need my parents to come with? I've gone to plenty of doctor appointments by myself. My doctor said that I had a cyst on the back of my main artery behind my knee. He said I might not be able to run again. That brought me to tears. Knowing that I continued to work out as hard as I could. I went to a specialist in Chicago and he found that I had enlarged lymph nodes and had nothing to worry about. Whew. That was a relief. But now is one of the biggest moves of my life. Going from Ogden, Illinois to Chicago, Illinois. A village with 850 people to a city with more than 3.5 MILLION people. And I knew absolutely no one. That's one of the reasons I chose UIC, I didn't know anyone which gave me a fresh start. Also, athletics and academics, don't forget those. Starting my freshman year, I made friends with everyone I could. I would sit next to the smart people in class and ask for help. It helped me further my academics while also meeting new people. Okay, okay. Back to track. I started running with 5th years mainly, which is a HUGE difference in ages. I learned as much as I could from them, but one thing was a problem for me. I always worked hard, and freshman year was no different. I ended up overworking myself and not performing as well because of it. I didn't go to conference as most other freshmen did. 
 
My sophomore year comes around and we get a new sprint coach. During the time they were looking for a new coach, though, we had to work out by ourselves. I was doing a sled pull speed workout and managed to fracture my pelvis. So, another injury sidelined me. I managed to run a couple of meets by the end of the year, including conference. I ran the 100, 4x100, and 4x400. I managed to run a solid time in the 4x400 and the new coach thought I'd probably do better as a 400 runner. That's what I started training for then. My entire life I was a 100, 200, and relay guy. I probably avoided training for the 400 as long as I did, because anyone that has run one knows you don't want to train for it. But with my mindset going into my junior year of college focused on doing the best I could in the 400, I followed my coach's training. And it worked. I started doing well, setting a personal record 6 times in a row actually. That included running in the Distance Medley Relay at indoor conference and WINNING. My best performances happened out in California. I ran at the Mt. Sac Relays in the open 400 and set my collegiate outdoor pr. On that same day, my parents drove me up to Azusa Pacific, which took 2 hours because Los Angeles traffic is terrible. There I ended up running on the 4x400 and we killed it. The next day we were running at Long Beach State. I didn't do that hot after traveling and running so much the day prior. But I found out we would be running at THE DRAKE RELAYS. If you've never heard of the drake relays, it has many Olympians there and is nationally broadcasted. I was ecstatic! We got to the meet and the weather was absolutely terrible. We still got out and compete though, I managed to fall while handing off. Check out that race here. We end up going to conference with the number one seed and ended up getting 3rd. 
 
Okay, now my senior year where the fun happens, right? Turns out we got a new sprint coach, so at this point, I've had 3 different coaches in just college. I followed his training plan and trusted the process. The indoor season comes along and I'm doing okay, not as well as compared to last year. We lost some use of facilities for indoor and had to run on the upstairs of PEB. The hardest part with that is the surface, literally, the surface is so hard that it gives shin splints. That didn't affect me, but it did for others on the team. What affected me was having to turn a square corner going about 20 miles per hour, with a concrete wall on the other side. It definitely hindered my ability to become faster during my senior year. I had helped our 4x4 run the second-fastest time for indoor at GVSU towards the end of the season. At conference, I didn't have the best open 400 time so I had to "prove myself", note that same phrase I mentioned earlier, by running the distance medley relay. I tried to strategize that race to not let another team by and it messed up my strategy which made me not finish strong. So it comes to the final day of the meet with the 4x4. The decision was up to the coaches to put me in or not. And I did have one coach that believed in my ability, in fact, it was the new sprint coach I had. In the end, I wasn't put in it. I didn't know that the distance medley relay would be my final collegiate race. I didn't know I wouldn't be on the bus or plane with my friends anymore, traveling and competing every weekend.
 
I needed a little break from everything going on, so my girlfriend, Rachel, and I went out for dinner. I figured something would come across my phone, so I put it on Do Not Disturb, that way I could get some quality time away from the noise. But for some reason, I looked at my phone since I was getting multiple texts. That's when I found out, our season was DONE. I was shocked, I didn't know what to think or say, especially to my teammates and friends. I grabbed my napkin, put it over my mouth and started saying words I can't repeat here. And now we get to where I am now. Taking all my classes online, in the comfort of my parent's home. 120 miles away from Chicago. It's weird, I don't know how to describe it. I am thankful for the time I spent at UIC, in joining the family. I am extremely thankful for my girlfriend, brother, mom, dad, sister (also with my niece now!), extended family, and friends. You all have helped me so much to grow as an athlete and a human. If there is one takeaway from this, the challenge is something we can embrace or shy away from. Choose to embrace! Nothing is given, treat every day like it is your last!
 
Thanks for reading,
 
Sean