Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Brandon Williams from Chaminade Madonna College Prep. I wanted to thank FlRunners for giving me this opportunity to share my growth experiences as a cross country runner.
Cross country races can be very overwhelming for kids just taking up the sport due to the competition present at each meet. Newcomers to distance running see the top contenders and think that they could never be able to run like that because they don’t have as much talent or resources that the top individuals have. It can be very humbling. About five years ago, I was one of those kids who was just starting to get involved in running and felt that I would have a tough time competing and feeling discouraged but with hard work I was able to improve and believe runners can become better and more competitive through determination.
I first began running at Sheridan Hills Christian in seventh grade and had an uneven year with lots of ups and down. I fluctuated between 26-30 minutes that season. Even though I was almost last, I achieved a PR at the Spanish River Invitational of 26:38 and felt a certain sense of accomplishment. At that point, I knew I wanted to become a better distance runner.
Through increased training and focus, I was able to improve my 5k time down to a 21:34 by the end of my eighth grade year. It was a great experience seeing the results and the impact it had on my team’s results. This five minute improvement brought me to the number 3-4 runner on my team and gave me the added encouragement that I could continue to develop with increased focus and training.
We decided to switch schools for high school and settled on Chaminade-Madonna College Prep in Hollywood. After running in the middle of the pack on my middle school team, I decided that I wanted to challenge myself and try to be one of the top runners on my high school team. I trained harder over the summer than I had in the past with my dad taking the time to provide a structured training program for me to follow that developed my aerobic base and incorporated tempo runs and intervals. The hard work over the summer paid off as I was the first runner on the team and ended my season with a time of 18:27 at the 2A Region 4 championships. I was proud of what I had achieved as a freshman but now I had a new goal, to qualify for the cross country state championship.
We lost a lot of our team after my freshman year to graduating seniors and, as a result, my sophomore year I would often train alone. Despite the fact that I didn’t have much of a team, my coaches (school and club) and my family supported me and helped guide me through my training. Despite the hard work I had put in, I wasn’t able to drop my time down enough to secure a top 15 spot in my region and I ended sophomore year with a 17:43 PR.
I really challenged myself for my junior year as this was my third shot of making it to states and I didn’t want to miss out on another chance of getting to Tallahassee. I mixed up my training by adding longer runs, doing faster speed work, and by doing hill work at Vista View Park and I was looking for substantial results. The first few races of junior season were hard and it seemed like I wasn’t able to make a serious drop in time as all my times seemed to stay right around my PR from sophomore year.
Towards the middle of the season, as I was struggling, me, my dad, and coach, Larry Lynch, began to think that the problem was I went out too fast the first mile and struggled during the next two. I made a deliberate choice to start slow and run an even pace and try to negatively split the race. The first race I changed to this strategy I was able to lower my time to 17:30 despite a mid-race fall. Things were looking up and, if I could follow the same strategy at districts and regionals, I thought I could definitely make it to states if I manage the race properly. At districts though, I reverted back to my old habits and went out way too fast almost losing my shot at regionals and a lot of my confidence in the process.
At regionals, to make sure I wouldn’t go out too fast again, I marked what time I should be at different points on the course and would adjust if I was going too fast or too slow. My plan paid off and I did each mile at an even pace and finished at 16:47 with an 11th place finish. I had finally done it and was elated that I was going to finally run at the state finals.
My trip to states was one of the most surreal moments I have ever had because I never thought I would actually make it. It was also made extra special for me that my 6th grade sister, Ashley, would also be running with her school’s (Westminster Academy) varsity team at the state championships. It was a fantastic moment for our family.
Although Chaminade-Madonna has not been a contender in some time, I was reminded while in Tallahassee about the great running legacy my school had at states. When my dad went up to get my number and told the official we were from Chaminade-Madonna, he said that he remembered when Chaminade-Madonna would be 3-4 of the top 5 boys in the state championships and the three times the boys took home the state championship. I was proud of the fact that I was continuing my school’s running tradition despite the fact that the team is not currently as strong as it once was.
While I accomplished many of my junior year goals, I have challenged myself to make my last high school year my best. I know my training has to be harder and more intense but smart and I have already started building toward that. Hopefully, the hard work over the summer will pay off and allow me to continue to develop as a runner and achieve personal goals that I never would have thought were attainable as that seventh grader running near 30 minutes for a 5k.
Running has really become a big part of my life and our family and although I’m not sure what the future holds beyond my senior year, I am hopeful that I can continue to develop as a runner and contribute to a team on the collegiate level in some manner. If not, it has been a great experience and developed a life-long passion for me as a runner.
Most importantly though, I would just like to say to any younger runners who are just starting out that with hard work and determination they can achieve goals that may seem out of reach but it just takes hard work and time. It is a great journey of personal development and achievement though!