Long distance running: My view on the sport and a guide to finding success

Long distance running. The sport of simply running. Some people who aren’t involved in this sport may disregard it and not understand everything that goes into running.

These people may also say, “How hard can it be? It’s just running; that’s nothing special.” There’s so much more to running than this, and I’m here to break it down.

I am far from the best runner, and I continue to learn and grow as a runner every day, but here’s my takeaways from my tenure as a runner thus far.

In this sport of running, you must be comfortable with being uncomfortable. Whether it’s the middle of summer or the depths of winter, whether your body feels perfect or you are dealing with some soreness, whether you had an amazing day or had a terrible day, you need to be intentional about getting out the door to run each day no matter how you feel.

I don’t mean to be harsh when I say that, but as runners, we are only cheating ourselves if we create excuses to not put in the work every day.

During a season where you continually pick up new personal bests, you’ll thank yourself for putting in the work even when you didn’t necessarily want to. The joy that comes from this sport when the work finally pays off is unlike anything else.

Running can be very rewarding, but only if the required work is put in. This is the same with life. Almost no one is going to have everything handed to them in life. Absolutely no one is going to have anything handed to them in running. We must work our tails off for what we are working towards in both life and running.

On the other hand, working hard and putting in the work in running won’t always return immediate positive results. It can get very discouraging when this happens. We start to question if any of the hard work was worth it.

This is where discipline comes in. As runners, we absolutely need to stay disciplined. Even when things aren’t going our way, we must stay disciplined and continue to work towards our goals.

This will eventually lead to positive results. We need to simply trust in the process because a breakthrough will occur if we stay consistent in our training through the good and the bad.

When it comes to racing, being able to push past the barriers our minds set for our bodies is key. When you enter the second half of a race, with the hurt setting in and the negative thoughts at the forefront of your mind, this is where you need to push past these barriers.

When you cross that finish line, you will be much happier with the results if you didn’t back down to the negative thoughts in your head, if you trusted all the work you put in and you embraced being comfortable while in a state of discomfort.

This is by no means easy to do. The easy thing to do is slow down when workouts and races get hard like your mind is telling you, but as we grow as runners, pushing past these barriers becomes a little easier to do.

To give some background on my running career, I joined my high school’s cross-country team in my eighth-grade year. I progressively got faster throughout my cross country and track career up until my senior year of cross country.

I put in the work by training the whole summer and came into the season in great shape. I started off with a successful first few races but ended up getting sick in the middle of the season during the few weeks leading up to the conference and section meets. I ended up missing out on the state meet by a few spots.

This was discouraging for me as this was not how I wanted to close out my senior year of cross country.

On another note, due to not performing how I wanted to, I wasn’t very highly recruited by college coaches.

Although this was the case, I always had a lot of interest in attending St. John’s, and from the start I felt like the coaches really wanted me here.

I will be forever grateful for the coaches here at St. John’s because they gave me the opportunity to continue to do what I loved while also feeling wanted no matter how good of a runner I ended up being. That’s one of the big reasons I ended up at St. John’s.

Going back to my senior year, I could have decided to not run all winter after the tough season I had, go and have a decent track season and move on to college running with whatever fitness level I would have obtained.

Instead, I was determined to bounce back and have a good senior year of track. I took a few weeks off after cross country and started ramping up my training again.

I stayed disciplined all winter, got out the door to run consistently and showed up to practice in the spring in good shape.

I started that season well, picking up where I had ended the previous track season. Then, in the middle of the season I started dropping time across the board. By the end of the season, I ran 1:57.09 in the 800, 4:24.30 in the 1600, and 9:41.99 in the 3200. For reference, my personal bests from the season before were 2:04 in the 800, 4:39.37 in the 1600, and 10:27.99 in the 3200.

The point is, I had one of the best seasons of my life because I stayed disciplined, became more comfortable with being uncomfortable and broke through some of my mental barriers that were trying to hold me back from chasing my goals and dreams.

Now, I have carried this same work ethic into college running. I have stayed disciplined; I keep trust in the training and I put in the work every day which has led to continued improvement.

Of course, I credit some of this success to the great coaches and teammates I have been blessed with. Due to my coaches and teammates, I have found a deeper love and appreciation for this sport.

In the end, I hope all runners can find their own successes in this sport. I wish nothing but the best for everyone in their running career, and I hope my story and guide is relatable and helpful for all runners, no matter where they are in their running careers.