Who knows who you might be racing against?
Last Sunday Diego Estrada, a former student-athlete at Alisal High School in Salinas, won the USA Half Marathon Championship in his first attempt at that distance, winning the race in a fabulous 1:00:51! Diego was a really strong runner during his high school days; he won the CCS championship in the 3200m his senior year, and he went to the State track meet three times in the 3200m, finishing as high as 4th. He won the CCS D1 individual XC championship twice. Diego had a great high school career by any standard, yet he was not tapped as a potential future great–his times were good (PRs of 9:04 for the 3200m, 4:20 for the 1600m, and 2:00 for the 800m) yet he would not have set the Monta Vista all-time records, for example. German Fernandez was the Man in California running that year.
Yet Diego Estrada is now the USA champion!
Way to go Diego, and way to represent for the Central Coast Section!
A couple things to think about.
1. You never know how far the person you are running with might go in life. CCS is the start for many great athletes; it could be that you are watching the USA Championships — or the Olympics — some day and be able to turn to the person sitting next to you and say, “did you know, I raced against her/him?” I think that is pretty cool.
2. Your high school running years are not your best running years (or sprinting, hurdling, jumping or throwing years). Just like Diego went from really, really good to holy smokes!, if you are willing to keep up the work, either on your college team or on your own or with a club in college, you will get better–and who knows how good that will be. If you find it satisfying and rewarding, you will find it easy to want to keep running and training and improving–and you will continue to set personal records for years and years. I know that you can! It’s all up to you…if you enjoy feeling fit, and achieving, and working hard, and being part of running group, you will enjoy the training and if you keep up the work, you will continue to improve.
3. I do think that ‘achievers will achieve’. In addition to running, those that like the process of working hard towards a goal in one area–running or whatever–will be better at working hard towards other goals, like building a company or discovering what is in the center of a galaxy. People who find it rewarding to be the best athlete they can be will also find it rewarding to be the best doctor they can be, not just a doctor who can get through med school. It all goes together.
During your next competition, think about the people in your race and where they could be in ten years. One of those athletes could be in the Olympics, or you could be reading about them as the next hot entrepreneur or they could be bringing clean water to people in Ethiopia or anything. And, that athlete could be you.