One Thing Young Runners Don’t Have

Young high school runners have the shoes, the right clothes, and work hard, but lack one important thing to having a successful running career.

Track is not my favorite sport. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great sport, and I have lots of fun! But when it comes down to it, I just do it to get faster for Cross Country. (Sorry to all the track fans who might be reading this…!) I realized this year though, that I really learned a lot these few months. About myself, about running, and about God.

“You two, you’re fast young runners,” said my coach, referring to me and one of my friends. ” You can run twice as fast as you’re running now, you just need to have confidence in yourself.”

Throughout this season, I realized how much confidence I actually lacked. They say running is 90% mental, and I definitely agree. During the rest of the track season, I realized that confidence is key for young runners to be successful. But how do I get confidence in myself? This I can honestly say I got better at, but still struggle with a lot.

Let me tell you a story. One time I was racing against another girl during the mile. I could tell by the way she was running that she was strong. I didn’t know how she was feeling on the inside, but I knew I was hurting like crazy. I thought, “She’s way faster than me. I can’t catch her! What am I even thinking?” And that’s when I started slowing down. As I finished the race, I realized that the time of the girl ahead of me was my mile record, exactly. I could have stayed with her, but in the moment I was too afraid.

Skipping ahead to later in the season, I was running a two mile. If you’ve ever done a two mile in track, you know they are ROUGH! I was, again, racing a girl I thought I couldn’t beat. But during that race, around lap 6, I realized something: By myself, I can’t win. No matter what, I will never be good enough. I have to have confidence that God will get me through it. That was the secret! That was what my coach meant when he said, “Confidence.” He didn’t mean pride, or self esteem. He meant a trust in God and in myself that with him I could run any time I wanted to.
After I had this realization, I started to pick up the pace. Part of me still said “What are you doing?! You’re killing yourself!” But I just prayed a quick prayer and gave it all I had. In the last stretch, I passed the girl, and got my best two mile time yet.

I still had bad races during the season. I wasn’t completely confident after that race at all. But I had gotten better that night, and the other nights like that where I pounded my heart out under the stadium lights, putting in my last breath across the finish line. It was hard. But I made it through the season with times I’m proud of!

-Maddie (Philippians 1:6)