“Be Better Today Than You Were Yesterday”

Via @brooksrunning

With one more week left in this Indoor Track Season, I cannot help but reflect on a season full of promise and joy.  My coach, Ruud, and I were using this indoor season to help us gauge our training this first 31 weeks of working together.  We had a highly productive, injury-free fall.  This winter focused on an 8k road race, and then I had 5 consecutive weekends of indoor racing—the last three races resulting in indoor personal best times.  My 3:57.76 mile in North Carolina, 7:52 3k in Boston and 3:57.36 mile in Iowa were some of the best races of my life so far.  My confidence has increased tremendously and my joy for track and field continues to grow every single day.  This is a very good thing because this week is NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP WEEK.  I am heading back to Boston (Lord WILLING) this Friday to race in the one mile run at 4:05pm Sunday, March 1, on NBC Sports Network (for those of you that care to tune in).  I normally have a great deal of fear and anxiety leading up to a National Championship event, but this one seems so different.  I feel that I have not only matured athletically over the course of this indoor season, but I have matured so much individually as well.  I believe in myself. I know I can run fast. I know I can compete at the highest level in this country. I know I can beat the best of the best.  Now it is just time to embrace the opportunity and “Run Happy” and do it!

Knoxville Youth Athletics has had a positive month of racing as well, specifically at an incredible meet in Birmingham, Alabama, a week ago.  Many of our middle school distance athletes traveled down to compete in 800, 1500 and 3000m races.  So many athletes posted on social media and reached out to me sharing about their successful experiences on the track.  I cannot express how happy and proud I was of everyone, and I am glad I was still able to be have a small part in encouraging our group from afar at my own race.  We really are a team at KYA.  I have received so many notes from athletes and parents sharing in my success on the track and telling me how they tuned into NBC Sports Network and FloTrack to support me these last few weeks.  Traveling and racing solo has its positives and negatives, but like anything in life—everything is so much richer and more enjoyable sharing life with others.  KYA and In the Arena has allowed me to do this in an immeasurable way, and I cannot thank everyone who has taken time to reach out to me and give me words of encouragement—I NEED IT!

Track and Field is a family oriented sport.  And even though my family is 8 hours away from me right now, I have a place that I call home where I can be myself and pursue the goals I hope to achieve in this life. So take these words of encouragement and inspiration from me today, “Be Better Today Than You Were Yesterday.” Don’t be scared to go after something—something that may seem out of reach or even too challenging to attain.  You will never know unless you do it, and I guarantee you will never regret the journey life will take you along the way—I know I haven’t. 

Thank you again to my biggest supporters:

Mom and Dad, Coach Ruud, Coach Greg, Meredith Dolhare, Gabe Holguin, Justin at Drayer PT, and Dr. McKinnon at McKinnon Chiropractic

Thank you to my Sponsors:  

Generation UCAN, Timex, Hypoxico , ec3d and Endevr

AND God knows I could not make it without Brooks Running and In The Arena for helping make my dreams realities each and every day of my life.

P.S. In your spare time check out that new Drake album that dropped last week with no prior marketing or promotion selling 500,000 + copies in the first week.

            

Milestones and Memories

There is that time in life where we are at our best.  That point where you are in sync both physically and mentally.  You have a challenge.  You visualize an outcome.  You achieve that goal.  A feeling of deep satisfaction and joy is created.  A “high” of sorts is developed that keeps you from being able to sleep at night.  Your focus is so real and vivid that you could almost reach out and touch it.  Your mind has taken over in such a way that you are on auto-pilot.  Every breath, every nerve impulse, every muscle contraction is happening at the exact time it should--creating maximum effort and performance. The beast within your soul is released!

I had the pleasure of experiencing this feeling during the summer of 2013.  In a span of two weeks, I ran the 5 fastest races of my running career: a 3:37 1500 in Belgium, a 3:37 1500 in Italy, a 3:36 1500 in Germany, a 2:20 1000 in Belgium and a 3:36 1500 in Belgium.  In each of these races I placed in the top 3 facing some of our nation’s and the world’s best middle distance athletes.  Flotrack was on site at many of these venues, and I recently watched some of the races and interviews from these unforgettable milestones in my running career.  I noticed a confidence and swag I never knew I was capable of attaining.  I noticed an athlete on the rise.  I noticed someone with a potential that was just being tapped into.  After my 2014 indoor and outdoor track seasons came to a close, I look back at an athlete who completely lost these feelings and thought it would be impossible to ever approach racing and training in these ways again.  However, like we have all experienced many times in life—THINGS CHANGE—sometimes positively and sometimes negatively.  And it all starts with the mind.

My sole focus of this 2015 track and field campaign and beyond is to approach my training and racing like I did that summer of 2013.  I have never felt so close to the reason why I was created to run as I did then.  I feel like my main purpose in life is to run and impact others through this sport.  I want to have fun again like I did in 2013, and I have now learned how to do that.  I learned that just like preparing physically for a race, you have to take time and prepare mentally for one as well—serious, thought-provoking, specific training.  I had to make some changes with the way I viewed myself, my goals and why I run track.  Do I run races only to run fast times? Do I have these high expectations to only please others? Do I run because I am supposed to? Why do I run?  Answering questions like these helped me find my way mentally as I prepared to be the best athlete I can be.  I had to figure out these and many other questions for myself, and I am continuing to seek out and refine these answers.  My mental training has been the key for me.  I am having fun again. I enjoy training again. I cannot wait to run every day (I am supposed to) again.

This past weekend marked a pivotal point in the first 27 weeks of my season.  A fresh start and many changes in my life both personally and athletically took place then.  And Saturday January 31^st was my first opportunity to see the outcome of the fruits of my own and many others labor.  My first indoor mile race took place in Winston-Salem, NC, at the JDL Fast Track (www.jdlfasttrack.com)—the fastest flat 200m track in the world.  I was slated to race against some of our nation’s best milers including Leo Manzano (2012 Olympic Silver Medalist, 3:50 mile PR), Will Leer (top 5 in the USA over 1500m for FOREVER, 3:51 mile PR), Cory Leslie (8:20 steeplechaser, 3:53 miler) and fellow Brooks athlete Riley Masters (2014 USA 1500m finalist and 3:56 mile PR).  This opportunity was one that not many have, and I would like to thank Craig Longhurst and David Shannon for their continual support as they invite me to their world class facility and race each year.  FAST FORWARD… I finished 3^rd in a time of 3:57.76 which converts to 3:54.66 with the NCAA flat track adjustment.  I qualified for the 2015 USA Indoor National Championships later this month, and this time is one of the fastest mile times of my career.  This race also produced another milestone as it was the 10^th time I have broken the 4 minute mile barrier on a track in my career (8 times outdoor and 2 times indoor).  I really surpassed my own expectations for this race and could not believe how much positive adrenaline I was able to produce and control leading up to, during and after the race.  I was on “Cloud 9” and was so happy my father (and so many others) was there to watch me run and that my mom was able to see the live stream (Thank you Runnerspace.com).

God is so good.  And so are Brooks and In the Arena.  Without their support of my running career, races and memories like this would not be possible.  I am already looking forward to my next world class opportunity as I am currently flying to Boston for the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix.  Thank you all for your unwavering support as I love reading and receiving your encouraging comments and words.  We can all have fun in life.  We can all do something bigger than ourselves!  Onwards and Upwards!

Pre Race Strides at the Camel City Mile  (P.C. Phil Bond)

What a finish! Always run through the line (and lean if you have to)! (P.C. Mer Dolhare)