Anything is Possible!

Going into the State Finals our motto should be "Anything is Possible!" Well... every race should be approached in this manner, but this weekend is a great opportunity to put the motto into action. From a psychological (mental) perspective you need to let your mind and body go on auto-pilot. What do I mean by "auto-pilot?" Just go out and run. You all know how to run fast. You know what it feels like to run fast over 5k. Pay attention to your body and let your competition carry you along.

Anything is possible! Be comfortable with both ends of this equation. Yes we could have a horrible race as a team... and you know what, the world will go on as usual after. On the other end we could have an amazing day as a team... and you know what, the world will go on as usual after.

As your coach I have a rough estimate of where we could place as a team... and what kind of time each of you are physically capable of running. Notice I said "rough estimate". Going into your race you all can have a rough estimate in the back of your head of what you would be happy running. You really don't even have to tell yourself this, because it's an outcome goal. Focus on the process you need to go through to get there. Running your race, in-control, and finishing the last mile faster than your competition.

I gave a good example the other day of how anything is possible. Back in 1996 I was a sophomore in high school. At the Region we finished 4th as a team, only making it to the Finals because we had 4 individuals qualify. At the Finals we finished 3rd overall. I was able to find the unofficial results online at http://www.runmichigan.com/highschools/ccfinalsupdate.html

They are unofficial because our 4th man (*) was missed in the results. It was kind of anti-climatic because we originally thought we finished 6th. Not until we were packed up in the van and ready to head home did we get the official results that we finished 3rd.

• 14. Ed Garza, Wyandotte, 16:08.85
• 27. Nicholas Stanko, Wyandotte, 16:25.76
• 37. Ben Wojcik, Wyandotte, 16:34.77
• *54. Eric Salla, Wyandotte, ~16:49
• 61. Ken Beesley, Wyandotte, 16:54.97
• 129. Stephen Dudas, Wyandotte, 17:29.60
• 152. Thomas Allen, Wyandotte, 17:48.47

Remember... Anything is possible. Sometimes setting place or time goals actually puts a limit on yourself. For example... a runner could say I want to run 16:25. Well this runner might be ready to run much faster than that. If they get into a race and start running much faster than that 16:25 pace they might freak out... but had they not set a specific time or place goal THE SKY IS THE LIMIT... and ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE!