Run it back: How patience helped UWM's Natalie Block return to the NCAA Championships
WAUWATOSA, Wis. (CBS 58) -- It was this time last season, that Milwaukee hurdler Natalie Block had the sport of track taken away.
"I feel like this year I was definitely tested," said Block.
Training for the NCAA Championship 400-meter hurdles semifinals, Block took a fall suffering what she thought was a bad ankle sprain, but was worse.
"I came up too short or something on a hurdle and I just went tumbling down. My ankle took the brunt of the ball," said Block. "I actually ended up having a bone and cartilage chip."
Block pulled out of the NCAA Championships because of the injury but was able to run at the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials. When the pain remained, she needed surgery.
"I was having so much swelling. Like, so much. You could not recognize my foot," said Block. "The nights were rough. The nights were rough for a couple weeks because it was constant Ibuprofen, any anti-inflammatory anything that could help me."
Having surgery in August, Block missed the indoor track season and ultimately 10 months of competition.
"You think you're going to pick up where you left off and no - it's not that way whatsoever," said Block.
"We didn't have the indoor season to feel the hurdle races, we didn't have the indoor season where she ran the 400, so it was just a different path this year," said Andrew Basler, Milwaukee men's and women's track and field coach.
Basler said the two had to use practice times to know they were heading in the right direction. But week by week, through the ups and downs Block leaned on faith to find her stride, learning about patience along the way.
"I thought I learned that a couple years ago, but this was definitely a different learning curve," said Block. "The hurdles is a rhythm event so when you hit your first race, you can't expect to have a baller time. You got to get back to it. You got to be patient."
"She's really hitting stride right at the right time," said Basler.
In May, Block won two more horizon league titles in both the 100- and 400-meter hurdles giving her 12 conference titles in her career. With a chance at more hardware in Eugene, Oregon, she doesn't put any unnecessary expectations on herself. Instead Block runs with what her coach calls a new sense of calm.
"Definitely just saw a shift in how she attacked her races," said Basler. "I'm just going to trust the process and see what happens."
"When it comes to the track, it's just I'm grateful to be here," said Block. "I think at the end of the day if you're following your passion and you're having fun. The times are going to be there because you don't have to worry about anything else."
Block will run in the 400-meter hurdles on Thursday, June 12, at 8:14pm in Eugene. The race can be watched on ESPN.