When the results are not what you envision...

During my first year of college when I ran for Hampton University in Virginia, I was surprised at what I was able to accomplish in my running career as a freshman. I knew it was from my training and discipline in high school. My cross-country season was a breeze where I always placed in the top three at every match. I even made it all the way to the CIAA championship finals on a very chilly day with my California skin and placed seventh overall.

Indoor track was a new experience for me and even more rewarding where I placed third in the 1500m and second in the 1600m relays, and third in the 800m CIAA Championship finals; these races were back to back so I was pleased with my winnings.

So I could expect nothing less in my outdoor season, my favorite, so I thought. My expectations were high, my goals were set, and I was ready to win like all the other races. But the season did not pan out the way I thought it would. There were more disappointments in my judgment of races more than anything. I couldn't understand it because I had trained so hard for many
months, even between seasons. I was losing faith as a mid-distance runner and wasn't sure how I was going to pull myself out of this mindset. I humbled myself, got back in touch with the enjoyment of the races instead of the winnings and found my outdoor season almost over when I began winning in the top three again.

Yet there was one more blessing, one last hope I could count on--our 1600m relay team made it to the championship finals and I was on this relay team. Everyone knew we were the favored; we were expected to win. In my freshman head, of course, I switched my mindset back to winning, because this one race should be a breeze, I figured... (Please read the rest of the Producer's Corner #3 as a FREE member of our T.R.A.C.K. Live! community blog. Sign up by clicking here.)

Giving up the easy way.

They say that giving up is the easy way, the easy way to say “I failed.”

During my high school years, I switched to a well-known private school in San Jose, CA to compete at a higher level in track & field and all sports. I remember how good that sounded: switching to another school so that I could compete with very competitive athletes, after all this should be easy, I thought, since I had a natural athletic talent. I didn’t know how surprised I would be until the first day of track practice at my new school: I remember the stigma of having to run 10 X 400m, very fast, no breaks. My ego was telling me I couldn’t do it, and that the coach and athletes at this school were crazy. My new teammates tried to encourage me and told me to block the throbbing pain in my legs out of my mind and just run. I could tell they were trying to tolerate me with little patience—they didn’t have time to deal with weak failures.

So what did I do? I walked off the track, gave up, and told myself and the coach I couldn’t do it and that the workouts were insane. I convinced myself that I had to be right, for no one in their right mind would endure such pain—no way! It wasn’t the way I was used to training.

Needless to say, it was a severe reality check—if I wanted to be a part of the best then I had to learn to run and train with and be like the best. What a horrible experience that taught me a valuable lesson…
The next day, I humbled my ego—(come join our FREE membership at tracklive.us and read the rest of this "Producer's Corner #2" free always!)