Ladies,
So here we are... on the brink of Sectional. I am excited, I don't mind telling you. Even if it rains, the weather is definitely in our favor. It will be cool, and that's the main thing. You will be rested, and you will run fast.
I will want you there by 9:30 AM. SHARP! It will likely rain between now and then, and the course will be a bit sloppy. Bring spikes if you have them. Also bring some layers of clothing, because if it winds up raining you may want to get into tights. Better to have the option than not. Same with gloves and hats. Be ready for anything.
We now turn over to the mental part of the race. I could talk a blue streak about that - in fact, I have many times. Let me simply share an experience I witnessed just tonight.
After leaving practice I took Zoe over to Parkview track to catch the BMS/SMS CC meet. Of course I wanted to see it all, but naturally I was more interested in the girls race. It stands to reason; some of the girls in the race trained with us all summer. On top of that, Ramirez was chasing the course record she'd missed by only one second the last time she raced it.
It was a three-girl race from the jump. Jennifer popped right off the front, Chelsea and Autumn trailing slightly behind. That gap would grow, but Chelsea and Autumn used one another to break the rest of the field.
The gap between the three girls grew and grew. It wound up being something like 200 meters by the end, an impressive feat. Better still, the former course record of 12:59 was shattered, lowered all the way to 12:22. Autumn out kicked Chelsea in the end, and it would be a while before the rest of the field came in.
Now here comes the inspirational part.
Ramirez didn't have to run that hard. She had the win in the bag, the course record was hers after midway, all she had to do was cruise. There was no one to push her. There was no reason to run so hard, except for one.
She knew she could.
See how utterly simple and elemental that epiphany is? Jennifer can race you and go fast, or she can focus on a goal and run fast without you. That is incredibly mature racing. Jennifer is fast because she won't accept anything less than her best. She could fool all of us, but she can't fool herself. She would know. And that's enough to keep pushing.
The hard thing about doing anything at all at the highest possible level is the fear you take into it. Instead of putting our eyes straight ahead and going for it, we turn left and right and behind, looking for those things that might go wrong. We let things get into our heads that shouldn't be there. We lose the focus. It doesn't have to be.
There are things you control, but many more things you can't and won't. Keep your eyes on the things you can affect, ignore everything else. Have courage, have faith, and have the will to keep going when it seems tough. The tougher it is, the greater your glory.
So here we are... on the brink of Sectional. I am excited, I don't mind telling you. Even if it rains, the weather is definitely in our favor. It will be cool, and that's the main thing. You will be rested, and you will run fast.
I will want you there by 9:30 AM. SHARP! It will likely rain between now and then, and the course will be a bit sloppy. Bring spikes if you have them. Also bring some layers of clothing, because if it winds up raining you may want to get into tights. Better to have the option than not. Same with gloves and hats. Be ready for anything.
We now turn over to the mental part of the race. I could talk a blue streak about that - in fact, I have many times. Let me simply share an experience I witnessed just tonight.
After leaving practice I took Zoe over to Parkview track to catch the BMS/SMS CC meet. Of course I wanted to see it all, but naturally I was more interested in the girls race. It stands to reason; some of the girls in the race trained with us all summer. On top of that, Ramirez was chasing the course record she'd missed by only one second the last time she raced it.
It was a three-girl race from the jump. Jennifer popped right off the front, Chelsea and Autumn trailing slightly behind. That gap would grow, but Chelsea and Autumn used one another to break the rest of the field.
The gap between the three girls grew and grew. It wound up being something like 200 meters by the end, an impressive feat. Better still, the former course record of 12:59 was shattered, lowered all the way to 12:22. Autumn out kicked Chelsea in the end, and it would be a while before the rest of the field came in.
Now here comes the inspirational part.
Ramirez didn't have to run that hard. She had the win in the bag, the course record was hers after midway, all she had to do was cruise. There was no one to push her. There was no reason to run so hard, except for one.
She knew she could.
See how utterly simple and elemental that epiphany is? Jennifer can race you and go fast, or she can focus on a goal and run fast without you. That is incredibly mature racing. Jennifer is fast because she won't accept anything less than her best. She could fool all of us, but she can't fool herself. She would know. And that's enough to keep pushing.
The hard thing about doing anything at all at the highest possible level is the fear you take into it. Instead of putting our eyes straight ahead and going for it, we turn left and right and behind, looking for those things that might go wrong. We let things get into our heads that shouldn't be there. We lose the focus. It doesn't have to be.
There are things you control, but many more things you can't and won't. Keep your eyes on the things you can affect, ignore everything else. Have courage, have faith, and have the will to keep going when it seems tough. The tougher it is, the greater your glory.
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