I have been running now for a year a two months.  I started last year with Cross-Country and did Distance Track in the Spring.  Righ now my second Cross-Country season is coming to an end.  Even though this is still the beginning of my running career, I have learned a lot.  Looking back to last year it seems that I just ran to get into shape (and I have lost 15 pounds in the last year).  But now running races feels a lot different to me.

I have realized that running is not just about your physical condition, it also has to do with your mental state.  If you do not believe that you will do well in a race, then you won't.  But yet if you feel like you are about to go out and run the best race of your life, that is exactly what will happen.  My first 5K this season was a 21:34 and a PR at the time for me.  It took another 4 weeks before I ended a race with a PR.  That new PR was a 20:22 and two weeks ago.  Now my 5K time last week was a little slower than that one and my race today was a little slower than last week.

I went to the race today holding spot number six on my team, but I was not in the right mindset to stay in that position.  After the meet, I was number eight on the team.  Today I went thinking that my teammates in spot number seven and eight would beat me and they did.  When I got my 20:22 PR two weeks ago, I went into the race wanting to go sub-20:30 and I did.  This all shows that mentality has control over most of the race.

"The important thing is the attitude of the athlete, the desire to get to the top."
                                            -Herb Elliott

*This is the end of my first blog.  I will be posting more running blogs in the future so watch out for them.