Sophomore distance runner Brittany Arthur is not afraid to run a 3,000-meter race, a 5,000-meter race and her personal favorite, the 10,000-meter race.

The 10K is 6.2 miles, or 25 laps around the track. To most people that is too far, but she gets her biggest joy from running it.

One thing she is afraid of, though, is cotton balls.

“They scare me,” Arthur said. “When they get around me, I just get really hot and the chills. I have been like that forever. When I was in kindergarten we had to make snowmen out of cotton balls and I started crying. It was terrible.”

She said her fear is weird, but she cannot rationalize it. Cotton balls may be weird, but her decision to stay at a local college is perfect for her, though it may be hard for some.

A native of Arcola, she decided to attend Eastern so she could be with her family and attend her younger sister’s events.

Other than being with her family and friends, her true love is running. She said she enjoys it so much she is involved in three sports that have her consistently on the run.

In the fall she participates in cross country, in the winter she is in indoor track and in the spring she finishes her year with outdoor track.

“I am one of those people that could run for days,” she said. “I just love it. I spend my whole summer training for cross (country). My whole life pretty much revolves around it. It just makes me really happy.”

She said if she runs it is a good day, but if she takes a week off, she gets crabby.

Even though she has a love for running, she still gets worn out from time to time.

“There are days when it gets tiring, but the meets make it worth it,” Arthur said. “That is my motivation. But I wouldn’t have it any other way. I think I would get really bored if I didn’t have track all year. I need to move around a lot. I cannot sit still to save my life.”

Though she loves to run, she has participated in other sports.

“We didn’t have cross country in Arcola,” she said. “I played basketball and volleyball, and softball in the summers. I was also in dance, and we did hip hop routines.”

While running is her life right now, she does have future plans to expand her horizons.

“I plan on going to grad school; I want to get my doctorate in psychology and hopefully open my own practice one day,” Arthur said. “I think I might have to move to a bigger city or the suburbs to get good business. So I may actually branch out. I want to live in another state, and maybe go to grad school out of state.”

At the end of the day though, school and running aside, she wants to be known as a friendly, outgoing and a caring person.

“I hope my friends remember me for doing anything for them and always being there for them,” Arthur said. “I always put them before me.”

Dion Mortorano can be reached at 581-7944 or [email protected].