- November 27, 2024
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Alyssa Bayliff thought the searing pain in her foot was the result of tying her shoes too tight. But after four weeks of labored running, she went to the doctor, where she discovered the culprit was a stress fracture in the third and fourth metatarsals of her left foot.
For the next four months, Bayliff — then a sophomore cross country runner at Seabreeze — crutched around in a boot, which she decorated with ribbons. She couldn’t run obviously, but attended every meet and rode the stationary bike. In her spare time, she kept in shape with cross training — stretching, swimming, biking, pushups and abs.
“Really anything I could,” Bayliff said.
The resilience didn’t go unnoticed by Sandcrabs coach Debra Diaz.
“It was hard for her, because really she loves to run,” Diaz said. “She doesn’t just run to get a scholarship or because she’s forced to, she enjoys running, she looks forward to it. That shows a lot of character. She’s just a great team member.”
Character’s one thing, a run of bad luck is another. After those four months, Bayliff’s doctor told her it was OK to resume running. She started with a jog along Nova Road near her Ormond Beach home.
“I was going really slow, jogging,” she recalled. “Almost like fast walking.”
Less than a half-mile into her return to running, the unthinkable happened. Another stress fracture. This time in her Achilles Insertion bone. Another eight weeks in a boot. It would’ve been easy to sulk after such a setback. But Bayliff employed exactly the opposite mindset.
“I kept telling myself everything happens for a reason,” she said, “that it would make me a stronger runner. And it did. My teammates helped me.”
This time around, the rehab was more measured. Bayliff could only run on the grass, and she had to alternate between walking and running in 20-minute intervals. Her next test was a four-mile run, which her doctor told her she had to complete in less than 40 minutes. She made it on the first try — barely. After missing most of cross country her sophomore year and all of track the following spring, the early returns on her rehab weren’t encouraging.
“Having that (four-mile test) be really difficult for me, I thought the season was going to be terrible,” Bayliff said.
But on the contrary, Bayliff placed second and third at districts and regions, respectively, last season as a sophomore. At states, she posted a team-best 9:08 — a personal record by 30 seconds. In track last spring, she recorded Seabreeze’s only points in the state tournament with a mark of 11:26 in the 3200-meter run.
Her goal for this, her senior cross country campaign is to break 18 minutes — although she’ll settle for a time in the low 18s.
“I think she’s going to be one of my top two runners,” Diaz said.
The other binary in that pair is senior Josie Gray. She remembers Bayliff attending almost every practice while injured (she was busy with the in-car portion of Driver’s Ed. for a while), and encouraging her teammates from the sidelines.
“I learned that she’s really supportive,” Gray said. “You could tell she’s dedicated to the sport, because she didn’t let go or give up. We told her ‘It’s okay, you’ll be back, and you’ll be stronger.’”
Much of the Sandcrabs’ strength this season lies in the squad’s depth; at states last fall, Seabreeze’s top-four runners all finished within 20 seconds of each other.
“I want everyone to do their best and be able to always interchange," Gray said. “Not everyone has an amazing day each meet.”
