First off I would like to congratulate all the Florida runners that had a great opening weekend! For this blog I want to talk about what makes me, or runners in general, well, run basically.
Let me start by going back 365 days.
The Lake Mary Mike Gibson Summertime run was the first meet on last years calendar for me. Coming into this race I was a Franco who had barely ran any meets my freshman and sophomore years due to injuries, had a 16:52PR, half a summer of training, and a mild fever. I went into that race not even being considered a threat to the lead pack and ended up surprising even myself when I won. That kick started a great season where again I pulled off an upset at the state meet and went on to win two more titles during track season.
This season, familiarly enough, the Lake Mary Mike Gibson Summertime run was the first meet on my calendar. Coming into the race this year everything had changed, I had a decent time, was much more fit and prepared, knew most of the runners I expected to be in the lead pack, and was expected to race well and fast. It’s true but I'm sure it is for all of us that we are a little more nervous than usual at a season opener but that’s no excuse for a bad race. I came third on a possibly long course in a time of 16:50. This past weekend at Astronaut invitational the competition was great again and I came 5th with a time of 16:21.
What disappointed me was not my times but my attitude. When the going got tough, right around the halfway point of the race where your legs begin to protest I was able, but not willing to go to that extra gear. Both races I gave up on myself, thoughts like “what am I doing,” “why push any harder,” and “Just slow down,” snuck into my head and took over. Last year I knew what and why I was racing for and always when I asked myself those questions I had a sufficient reply. This year I have not found that fire yet, something still needs to spark. I wanted to share this with everyone because I believe at some point every runner has experienced this in their running careers and most certainly you’re not alone! Running as life does has its highs and lows but the difference between being average and being great is knowing how to prolong your highs and cut short your lows, exactly what I plan on doing. If you keep training hard, pushing every day at practice, and getting fitter and stronger through periods of weakness, when you’re feeling good and running motivated it’s just that one notch better.
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