In my high school days, my family were (and still are) passionate alpine skiers. My parents built a house just north of Toronto at Mansfield Ski Club.

In my last year of school, back when we still had Grade 13, I would often head up to the ski hill Thursday night with my younger siblings, so my sister could attend her elite ski training. My brother was six at the time and he piled in the car with us to spend an extra day on the hill.

Along with skiing, I was trying to participate in as many sports as possible. I was deep into tennis, cycling, ultimate frisbee, field hockey, water polo, swimming, nordic skiing, and of course, both cross-country running and track and field. I also started training with the University of Toronto’s Junior Development track and field program. I was fanatic about being athletic, less fanatic about academics. Both athletics and academics were a part of daily household conversations though – “Sasha, how was school today?”

When it came time to choose a university and a program of study, I picked U of T’s commerce program, because my junior development coach Ross Ristuccia was now the varsity cross-country coach, and I wanted to continue to train under his guidance. I think it was the mathematics that drew me into commerce. The minimal class time requirements played a part in the decision too. Less time in lectures meant more time available for running.