Twitter:@clercsimpson
Email: clercsimpson@me.com
This past week has given me a lot of time to think and reflect on running and the memories it has bestowed. I began to think back to my first track meet. I was in 8th grade and as most of you are aware, when you go to a K-12 school, you can start playing high school sports in junior high. I played softball and still wasn’t completely sold on this whole running thing, but I knew I liked it and even more than that I loved to compete.
On the day of the team’s first track meet, we also had a high school softball game. “Lucky for me” the 3200m is the second to last event, my coach informed me, and I would be able to do both the game and the meet. I went to the softball game and made it just in time for the 3200m, put on my “tennis shoes” and walked to the starting line. The important thing to remember here is that I saw no other races prior to mine.
We line up, they fire the gun and we are off running. Low and behold we finally reached the 8th and final lap! If I remember correctly, I think there were three of us heading into the last lap, and then to my HORROR, there was a gun fired right next to me on the track. WHY IS SOMEONE SHOOTING A GUN ON THE INFIELD?!! I’m a country girl and grew up around guns my entire life with my brothers and Dad being the natural born hunters. My mom and I were not so much the natural born hunters.
Surely there are no deer or squirrels in the infield?
I don’t think I truly thought there was a shooting or that my life was in any sort of grim danger, but I can guarantee you that instinct kicked in to get the heck out of dodge and I took off like a bat out of hell out of sheer instinct. I ended up running probably one of the fastest final laps I have ever run in my life and all because I didn’t know that the starter fires the gun on the final lap. All I knew in the moment was to run as fast as I could as quick as I could, away from that gun shot. Thanks to my PURE IGNORANCE, I won my first track race.
I think the lesson in this is that we, as runners, have a tendency to overthink our races and DEFINE ourselves by the outcome of time. We overthink what we have left in the tank to finish and kick home. We forget to simply compete. There is something so simple and pure about competing with other athletes to make each of us better. My advice this week heading into competition would be to be grateful for the gift to compete and relish the opportunity to race a worthy opponent so that you may ultimately reach your full potential.
Don’t overthink it. Just compete. By choosing to compete, you choose to be the best version of yourself on that day. You cannot control the weather. You cannot control your competition. You are choosing to take control of you and that is the most empowering thing you can do as an athlete. Be open to the endless possibilities you have as an athlete and the various ways that a race can unfold.
Saving the best for last, I wanted to send a huge congratulation to Zachary Albright for breaking the Great Pat Gavin’s record at the Sugar Bowl and a shout out to Gabby Jennings for representing small schools in her mile victory at the Sugar Bowl. I’ve been watching all the races and there was some gutsy mid race and closing moves that were a lot of fun to watch. Y’all are very inspiring and especially on a week where I needed YOU.
I will leave you with one of my favorite quotes:
“You’ll never do a whole lot unless you’re brave enough to try.” Dolly
Go out there this week, be a little braver, follow your instincts and think a little less. My guess is you’ll run “whole lot better and have a whole lot more fun.” Looking forward to hearing from y’all.
Let’s do this Louisiana!