Multitasking Teen Ran a Race in Full Hair and Makeup, Then Went to Prom
When a teen’s track meet was scheduled smack in the middle of her high school prom, she decided to get her hair and makeup done before taking the field so she could attend both events.
Mary Rose Patwell, a 17-year-old senior at Columbia High School in East Greenbush, N.Y., had been looking forward to her end-of-year track meet despite the fact that it overlapped with her senior prom. “This track meet is always on the day of prom, and I was torn about running but I didn’t want to let my teammates down,” Patwell tells Yahoo Style.
The June 2 prom started at 7 p.m., 30 minutes before Patwell was set to run a 4×400-meter relay race, which entails sprinting one lap at top speed. “It doesn’t sound hard, but it’s actually the most grueling race in track,” says Patwell.
Earlier that day, the teen paid $140 for professional hair and makeup at Haven Hair Studio in Albany, where she says she became “the talk of the salon” for her “crazy plan.”
While her friends were posing for photos and getting started with dancing the night away, Patwell was spritzing herself with setting spray to preserve her makeup and securing her ’do with a hairnet.
After completing the lap — “I didn’t have time to check my score,” she says — Patwell ran to the bathroom where a friend held her outfit, consisting of a long, red, lacy dress with a leg slit and strappy silver heels. Patwell’s date, Jared, was waiting for her off the field dressed in a tux.
“I didn’t even shower — I was like, ‘Nope, sorry, Jared,’” says Patwell. “He runs track too, so he gets it.”
The couple made it to prom by 8:30, just an hour late. “When we walked in, everyone was eating and turned to stare,” says Patwell. “They were shocked, partly because people mainly see me wearing athletic clothes with my hair in a ponytail.”
Patwell is headed to Lehigh University in the fall and is undecided about whether she’ll continue track. “If that was my last meet ever,” she says, “it’s a pretty cool way to go out.”
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