From start to finish, the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) Women's Cross Country Championship Meet in San Antonio was six kilometers. 

For Southwestern senior Valerie Acosta, the road leading up to her final conference meet was so much longer, measured not in distance but in the countless hours of work, setbacks, tears, and perseverance that led to a moment of pure joy.

As a freshman in 2018, Acosta clocked a personal-best 26:04.1 at the SCAC Championships in Kerrville, Texas, finishing 31st in the field to lead the Pirates. 

She followed that up with a promising spring in track and field with a few top-20 finishes, including a fourth-place performance in the 3,000 meters at the Trinity Invitational. At some point during the season, Acosta started feeling a little pain in her left leg, but nothing she thought she couldn't push through. Then, at the SCAC Track & Field Championships, Acosta suffered a catastrophic injury, breaking her left tibia and fibula. 

"It was a pretty significant injury, obviously, and to have it happen in her freshman year in a conference championship meet was pretty traumatic," former Southwestern head athletic trainer Curt Snyder says. 

The injury required surgery, a steel rod, and eventually a second surgery. Competing again was an afterthought to most and questionable at best. Acosta's resolve, however, was never disputed. 

"Ever since she was a little girl, she was determined to do things perfectly," Araceli Acosta, Valerie's mother, recalls. "She had to have perfect grades, and she wanted to be the best at everything she did. I knew once this happened, she was going to [run] again. She works so hard."

Acosta showed up for her first day of rehabilitation with Snyder in a wheelchair and stayed through the summer, diligent in everything she did. 

"Fortunately for both of us, she had a summer internship on campus, so she was able to do all of her rehab over the summer," Snyder says. "She was an outstanding student-athlete to work with because she just has this great attitude. She came into the training room every day ready to work. It was a long process with a lot of doctor's appointments, hurdles, and multiple setbacks."

Though unable to run, Acosta remained an essential part of the team, attending practices and supporting her teammates. 

"She's been the one to take care of this team, to motivate us," Southwestern head cross country coach Steven Cary says. "She's always there. Even when she's not able to run, she's still at practice. She's always one of the first ones to show up." 

In September of 2019, after spending the entire summer working with Snyder, Acosta was cleared for a huge milestone, getting the green light to jog in short bursts. The Robertson Center second-floor track was chosen as the setting for its soft surface. 

"It was an exciting day. A lot went into getting to that point," Snyder says. "It was a huge milestone for her to have the confidence even to attempt to do that, and the mental hurdle to build the courage to take those first steps." 

Never mind that the smiles on everyone's faces felt longer than the distance covered in the few-seconds Acosta was cleared to go at a time; the moment was everything for those involved. 

"To see her face, she was so happy just to be able to run again," Cary recalls. "I've never seen anyone so happy to run. Everyone was just beyond words, uncontrollably happy in those first steps. Curt was smiling ear-to-ear beaming." 

"To watch her from that first day being in a wheelchair, to weening off crutches, then to be a part of that jog was rewarding for me with all the hard work she put in," Snyder says. "I'm just grateful to have been there with a special student-athlete." 

"Val and I have been dating for a while, so I have a lot of Val stories," Nathan Botros, Acosta's boyfriend and a member of the men's cross country team, says. "But seeing her run again, even for like 10 seconds at a time, was just so cool. She was so excited to go from relearning how to walk to that first time she could run." 

"That moment was more disbelief," Acosta says. "I don't think the severity of my injury had set in. It was, 'oh, I bounced back, cool. Let's go race." 

Despite the progress, Acosta's leg still wasn't healing as planned, requiring a second surgery. And after another summer of work and ramping up towards competing, Acosta received more bad news when her other leg started hurting. 

"I remember going to my orthopedist because my right leg had been hurting a little, but it wasn't too bad. So my mom made me get an MRI," Acosta recalls. "The doctor walked in and said he didn't know what to tell me, but I fractured my right tibia. I thought he was kidding, and then I just started crying. It was so defeating." 

Distance runners talk about the wall that hits all of them near the end of the race. It's the point where the muscles have exhausted all of their energy reserves and put the runner at a test of will against their own body.  This setback was the mental equivalent. 

"Everyone's mindset changed a little bit. The team was excited to have Val back, but to have that blow one more time, you start to see the light at the end of the tunnel get a little dim," Cary admits. "You look at the clock and see time is ticking. So we tried to focus on each day, from scan to scan and rehab session to rehab session, just trying to emphasize her health. If competing never happens, it never happens, but we wanted to make sure she could live a good, quality life without worrying about her legs hurting." 

"I stopped focusing so much on getting back to compete and just started focusing on getting healthy," Acosta says. "I hadn't been able to go play pickup volleyball games or just play outside. I couldn't do more than walk. I wanted my body to be healthy, and if that meant never racing again, that's what it meant." 

Fortunately, the fracture was discovered in time, long before it escalated to the point of her first injury. Acosta remained with the team as one of its most consistent sources of positivity in a culture that has weekly positivity circles. 

"The team was really nice. I never felt like I didn't belong, even if I wasn't competing," Acosta says. "I feel very loved by my teammates, and all of their support was a huge deal." 

Last July, Acosta had another critical doctor's appointment with the same orthopedist. 

"For those that know me, it's not a shock, but I cried again," Acosta says. "The doctor came in and just gave me a fist bump and said I was good. After I finished crying, we talked about what it meant for my future and how to improve my bone density with supplements and things like that. It was really freeing." 

Acosta returned to training, but remained at a low volume, running no more than three times a week and emphasizing more cross-training. Though run times were no longer a goal, Acosta provided estimates of the paces she was running. Her progress was enough for Cary to approach her the week before Southwestern's Oct. 16 meet in Ohio at the Inter-Regional Rumble. 

"I went to Val and asked if she'd entertain the idea of running. There wasn't any pressure, it would be a race-time decision but she'd get to travel with us," Cary says. 

"I was like, oh goodness I have no idea," Acosta says. "I hadn't run longer than two-and-a-half miles and my parents would miss my first race back." 

Throughout the week, Acosta continued to clear a checklist of prerequisites until it became clear she'd be at the starting line for the Pirates. 

"We huddled up before the race and it's just one of those moments as a coach where you know what that person's been through and all they had to overcome," Cary says. "To see the joy in her eyes, her teammates knew how much this meant. You could see some eyes starting to water up. I told everyone we owe it to her to give it our best that day." 

Right before the race started, Acosta had volunteer assistant coach Jordanne Cary FaceTime her parents so they could watch Acosta run. 

"That was amazing. It was so exciting to see her run again," Acosta's mother says. "I was nervous and just really happy. She's such an amazing woman." 

Acosta finished with a time of 30:21.0, but most importantly, she finished. 

"To her standards, it probably wasn't the prettiest race she ever had, but we knew going in there were no expectations," Cary says. "She maybe didn't have the same stamina some of the other women had, but in typical Val fashion, she never gave up and that's truly special." 

After the race, Acosta called Snyder, who left Southwestern in 2020 for a job in Hawaii, to relay the good news. 

"I didn't know she was going to race, but it was great to hear the excitement in her voice after being able to compete again," Snyder says. "It was a long, long road for her and she's such a great person, it was good to just catch up with her again." 

Acosta carried that momentum over to the SCAC Championship Meet, improving on her performance in Ohio with a time of 30:12.3. 

"There've been a lot of highs and lows over the past few years. A few times where we had to take a couple of steps back," Cary says. "But, we've finally hit the highest of the highs and it brings my heart a lot of joy to get to watch her compete with her teammates a few times before she hangs up those spikes."

"I think the main thing is she's an excellent student-athlete and a better person," Snyder exclaims. "She's everything you want from a Southwestern Pirate. She puts in the hard work, cares about her teammates, and really enjoys being part of the process and part of the team." 

"She's such a big inspiration to me, seeing her perseverance," Botros says. "It was a long time coming but she definitely deserves this moment. She was at every single practice, through everything, with a smile on her face." 

Acosta may not have won any all-conference honors in her final meet, but no one put more work, perseverance, and joy into those six kilometers. And though it may have only taken 30 minutes to complete, the moment will stand as years of inspiration.