On Fast Track to Success

Every weekday morning, 16-year-old Donnell Norwood does 100 sit-ups and 100 push-ups. Then he boards the bus to Los Angeles Hamilton High, where he’s enrolled in the music academy.

By afternoon, he’s either lifting weights or training on the school track. By evening, he’s at USC receiving private instruction on running.

He also helps first-graders learn to read as a volunteer for a reading club. He plays drums for the gospel youth choir at his church. During the summer, he was a recreation counselor at Ladera Park.

All the while, he is consumed by a goal that influences every day of his life.

“I’m trying to be the state champion in 800 meters,” he said.

It’s a longshot for a junior whose fastest 800 time this season is 1 minute 58.89 seconds. But life is about overcoming obstacles, and Norwood has already improved by 20 seconds since he started running the race as a freshman. He has been making steady progress this season, recording personal bests twice last month.

“I’m trying to get to 1:54 by the end of the season,” he said. “I look on the Internet for my competition’s times to see what they’re doing so I can compare myself.”

Only three runners in the City Section have posted better times, and defending state 400-meter champion David Gettis of Dorsey will not run the 800 after the regular season. The other two, Larry Cardona of Garfield and Travis Bradford of Fremont, have season bests of 1:55.62 and 1:55.82, respectively.

Norwood’s commitment to be the best has made him a hero to his younger sister, Breann, a freshman at Hamilton.

“I’m always asking him, ‘What makes you go? What makes you not stop?’ ” Breann said. “That’s one of the many things I admire about him.”

If every older brother had a sister as loyal as Breann, they’d never complain about a younger sister’s hanging around too much. She took it upon herself to be Donnell’s public relations representative, composing her own story about what he’s trying to accomplish and sending it to sportswriters.

“He wakes up at 5:30,” his sister wrote. “He does his sit-ups and push-ups and then goes to the kitchen and makes sure he eats all the right foods for a day’s worth of training. He showers, gets dressed and sometimes straps on ankle weights to strengthen his legs while he walks his younger sister to the bus stop.

“Some days he goes to the school weight room to do a few exercises, and other days he takes an early morning chemistry tutoring class. Regardless, he is intensely focused on his goal to be the state 800-meter champion and to earn a college scholarship by graduation in 2005.”

Norwood, who’s 5 feet 9 and weighs 145 pounds, worked so hard that it hurt him last season. He trained too strenuously in the afternoon and evening in double workouts. He finished second in the Western League 800 final and faltered in the City prelims.

This season, he’s learning race strategy. He doesn’t run the first 400 meters as fast as his competitors. He uses his strength and stamina to make up for it on the second lap.

Norwood has come to understand that the competitor who’s most able to deal with pain usually finishes first.

“When you’re running in pain, it’s like your chest hurts and your breathing shortens, your legs get tired, your muscles start aching,” he said. “I think to myself, ‘Come on, Donnell, you have to keep going. You can’t stop.’ The guy who can take the most pain is usually the strongest. It’s not all about speed. It’s also about endurance.”

He appreciates having a younger sister as his biggest fan.

“I’m her big brother that she looks up to,” he said.

Breann, though, knows not to do anything to get her brother in trouble with friends.

“When I see him in the hallway, I’m like, ‘What’s up?’ and give him a handshake so I don’t embarrass him,” she said.

There’s nothing she can do that would embarrass her big brother. He’s as proud of her as she is of him.

Eric Sondheimer can be reached at [email protected]