On the Road to Find Out (27 page)

•   Write letters to the teachers you're asking for recommendations. Remind them of the work you've done in class and mention ideas and concepts that particularly intrigued you. This will help them write good—not just positive—recommendations.

•   Follow directions and send in what's required. If you pad your application, readers will wonder what you're trying to compensate for. In the file room at Duke they used to say, “The thicker the file, the thicker the kid.”

•   Get applications done the summer before senior year. The short essays are the hardest to write because they all end up sounding the same. Be specific. Be vivid.

•   Make sure you have eight (8!) first-choice schools, at varying levels of selectivity, any of which you would be thrilled to attend.

•   Don't let money determine where you apply. It might affect where you go, but there's a lot of financial aid available. Check out
www.finaid.org
.

•   Write your essay in the form of an e-mail to a friendly relative you rarely see. Show it to people who know you and love you enough to be critical. Listen if they say it's boring or doesn't sound like you. Better to admit to your flaws than to brag about your accomplishments.

•   Consider taking a gap year. Most colleges will let you defer after you've been admitted.

•   Know that wherever you end up—even if it's your safety school—will likely turn out to be the right place for you.

When my friends from high school and college find out that I'm a writer they're not surprised. But they yowl with laughter when they learn about my running.
You?
They say.
You're
a runner?

Yep. The person who invented injuries to get out of gym class runs ultramarathons. How did I get from there to here? Easy. I just put one foot in front of the other and ran.

But for those who want some more specific tips:

•   Get fitted for shoes at a running store. (If you have boobs, buy a running bra.) You don't need any other equipment at first. You
can
run in jeggings.

•   Start slower than you think you can go. Way slower. Run so slowly you feel like you could hold that pace all day.

•   If you need to walk, walk.

•   Build up your distance gradually.

•   Expect to have bad days. Everyone has bad days. Sometimes a lot in a row. Don't get discouraged, just keeping lacing up your shoes.

•   You won't need water unless you'll be out for a long time—or it's very hot.

•   Just get your butt out the door. Say you'll only go for ten minutes. Or one mile. Or around the block. Once you're out there, you can change your mind. (Once you're out there, you will likely change your mind.)

•   Always run facing traffic. And on the softest possible surface. Asphalt is better than concrete, and dirt is best of all.

•   Listen to a good book. I once accidentally ran for five hours because I couldn't stop listening to Donna Tartt's
The Secret History.
If you wear earphones, make sure you can still hear traffic.

•   If you're a program-follower, follow a program.

•   If you're a log-keeper, keep a log.

•   Be yourself. We run, like we make sandwiches, in our own image. Think about who you are and what motivates you. Do you need a goal? Sign up for a 5K. Are you a social person? Ask a friend to join you. Do you like instruction? Find a club.

It delights me to hear from people who are just starting to run and from those who have set or achieved goals. I love knowing if anything I've ever said has helped anyone even a little bit. I can't promise wisdom or even wit, but I will respond as quickly and as honestly as I can. Find me at
www.racheltoor.com
. Friend me on Facebook. Tell me your story.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

As every author knows and most acknowledge, writing a book is hard and lonely work, but if you're fortunate, you get help from good and generous people along the way. I'm grateful for the smart early readings I got from Julie Bramlet, Robin Ebenstein, Malini Gandhi, Candace Karu, Natalie Kusz, Jane Ligon, Ruth Monnig, Rachel Scott, and Hannah Voves. I heart my agent, Elise Capron, and am indebted to everyone at the sunny Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency. My experience at Farrar Straus Giroux Books for Young Readers has been the stuff of author fantasy. Editorial assistant Angie Chen started running after she read the proposal. Some of her thoughts, sentences, and aches are—shockingly—exactly the same as Alice's, especially the funny stuff. I'm grateful to my rocking publicity and marketing team at Macmillan, MacRunners Ellen Cormier, Molly Brouillette, Kelly McCauley, and (not-yet-a-runner) Kathryn Little. Getting early feedback from the veteran editorial staff at FSG was—how do I put this?—freaking amazing. I must confess to a huge girl crush on editorial director Joy Peskin. About executive editor Wes Adams, I have nothing to say. (Beyond what is written in the dedication to this book. It makes him twitchy when I gush.)

 

ALSO BY

RACHEL TOOR

 

Admissions Confidential: An Insider's

Account of the Elite College Selection Process

 

The Pig and I

 

Personal Record: A Love Affair with Running

 

Farrar Straus Giroux Books for Young Readers

175 Fifth Avenue, New York 10010

 

Copyright © 2014 by Rachel Toor

All rights reserved

 

First hardcover edition, 2014

eBook edition, June 2014

 

macteenbooks.com

 

eBooks may be purchased for business or promotional use. For information on bulk purchases, please contact Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department by writing to [email protected].

 

The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:

 

Toor, Rachel.

    On the road to find out / Rachel Toor.

          pages cm

    Summary: Alice Evelyn Davis, seventeen, has generally gotten all she wants from life but when her college of choice rejects her, problems with her best friend arise, and she faces an unexpected loss, her newfound interest in running helps get her through.

    ISBN 978-0-374-30014-2 (hardback)

    ISBN 978-0-374-30015-9 (e-book)

    [1.  Running—Fiction.   2.  Rats as pets—Fiction.   3.  College choice—Fiction.   4.  Family life—Fiction.   5.  Best friends—Fiction.   6.  Friendship—Fiction.]   I.  Title.

PZ7.T64307On 2014

[Fic]—dc23

2013041345

 

eISBN 9780374300159