Nerves are a good thing!

I have always been someone who has struggled to keep my nerves and emotions in check. In high school I loved the process of training but feared race day. Early on in my career, I was scared out of my mind the day of a race. What happens if I don’t PR? Will the guys on the team think I suck if I don’t run well? These questions came to my mind on a routine basis as a high school athlete. Running wasn’t just a sport I picked up in the fall and put away until the following year. I was emotionally invested in training, getting faster, and my team from the day I stepped on campus at Ladue High School until the day I left. Fortunately, I am in a place now where I have learned strategies to beat my anxiety on race day. Like anything you do in life, the more experience you have the more confident you will become. When I toe the line of a starting line now, I am more grateful than anything. I’m excited about the challenge. I’m proud of the singlet I am wearing and the teammates I am racing with. There is so much more to the race than just chasing your own individual goals. When I was running in high school, it seemed like a total no no to admit you dealt with race day anxiety. The truth is most runners deal with it. Some of us are better than others at hiding it. Now on the other side, I have seen first hand how hard it can be for young athletes to deal with all the pressure. Internal and external pressure wears an athlete down. What I realized was, running and competing has to be one hundred percent for you. The healthiest athletes find a way to motivate themselves while finding joy in the overall process of competition. I often tell my athletes to break down racing like you would break down anything else in your life. If you are an over thinker like me, write down what things you are worried about. Control what you can control. Try your best to throw away the negative thoughts you may be feeding yourself. A question a lot of runners worry about performance but most of us fear the simple fact that it’s going to hurt. Running a 5k all out is challenging but you will never regret your effort once you crush that finish line. Once I realized the race pain wasn’t going anywhere, I accepted my fate and learned to love the burn. My buddies and I will often refer to racing as the pain train. We train hard enough all year long to not enjoy competition day. Nerves are not a bad thing. They mean you care. Find a way to embrace them, learn how to manage them, and simply look forward to all the challenges ahead of you in this sport. We are lucky to have the ability to lace up our shoes every day.