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Here are some excerpts from a first-person account on collegiate racing by Melissa Tanaka. There are some good insights on college racing for those of you planning to run in college. Many of them apply to your running now in high school as well. The full story is linked.
"I wish I could say that experience catapulted me with the momentum I needed to kick booty in my final year in the NCAA. But that next fall was really hard, the hardest I ever had. I lacked the motivation needed to get through long, tough workouts, and even longer, tougher cross country races. I wanted so desperately for things to fall into place like they had in the past, yet I was left frustrated when time after time, things got more difficult, and my mental capacity got weaker.
My amazing sports psych helped me understand that I needed to have more compassion for myself. Running is a tough sport and I wasn’t giving myself the grace to step back and realize that for the truth that it is. Within the running community, we constantly remind our friends and teammates what greatness they are capable of. We encourage them not to give up, we tell them it’s okay to have a bad day. But when it comes to self-talk, we can be brutal and unforgiving.
Taking in my sports psych’s advice, I began to pat myself on the back even after the tiny victories of sticking to the group in a workout, or even the littlest victory of making it through practice.
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There’s so much to look forward to in college and so little of it has to do with racing performances. Running has given me lifelong friends, taken me to places I never thought I would end up, and given me silly, loving memories that will never cease to stop making me smile.
Looking back, these are some things (many things) that I found useful to keep in mind. I hope they may be useful things for other young women navigating the student-athlete experience.
Appreciate all the moments you have with your friends, even if it’s just a simple study night.
Tell the people in your life you appreciate them!!!
Don’t worry so much about who you are or who you aren’t. Also know that as much as you appreciate the people in your life, people appreciate you for being you!
Leave room to adapt and better yourself as you learn, but don’t change to conform to other people, or in ways you think other people might want you to.
Be confident, you have a lot about yourself to be proud of! It’s very important to be kind to everyone, especially yourself, you deserve it. It’s okay to mess up! You’ll mess up a lot and it will suck but you’ll grow because of it. Life would be so boring without the funny stories blooming from your silly mistakes anyway.
It’s okay to lean into your love of running. It might break your heart sometimes, but your friends will always be right there to lift you back up.
It’s okay to lean into your hate of running too. It happens to the best of us! The times of hate make the loving moments so much sweeter.
Don’t worry so much about the future. Things will work out just as they should, and even if they don’t, you have a whole, big group of people you can fall back on to support you.
College is full of excitement and surprises, and I think that’s its charm. There’s also a lot that’s worth the wait to experience on your own - stay open to the newness!
https://www.oiselle.com/blogs/oiselle-blog/melissa-tanaka-guide-to-college-running?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=blogroundup&utm_id=100823&_kx=NU3hdcmZzMFlQLaJINZgD73XjKU1rLY7ASjnpc-X2v0%3D.XUiAnK
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