Summer Thinking

I have neglected this blog for quite some time, but I had a talk with my high school track and cross country coach today and thought I would share some thoughts. I have a great relationship with my high school coach because he is the reason why I am running today. He has always been the person that has believed in my running abilities and to this day, I still go to him when I am discouraged about running. This past year of running was a challenging one. From a disheartening end to my cross country season to an off season of track in general, running hasn't necessarily been my favorite subject to talk about. At the end of track season, I had a length discussion with my current coach about running and my inability to perform at the level I knew that I was capable of achieving. He encouraged me to make a list and think about all of the things I loved about running. Despite the productive talk that I had with Coach Mike, I still didn't feel confident about running as we received our summer training plans and started to discuss goals for next season. Because running has become so much a part of my life and being, it is often hard to separate and step back from all of it. I struggle to accept that although running is a part of my life, it isn't my WHOLE life. I have so much more to be proud of and I often don't credit myself enough for the challenges that I have overcome. As I discussed my summer training with my high school coach today, I expressed my frustration with the feat it has been to follow my running schedule with the current job that I have. Although it has been tough, I have come to the realization that as a senior in college, I have so many priorities besides running to focus on. I mentioned to him that although I have had a positive running experience, I need to start planning for my future. A comment that significantly stuck out to me from the conversation today was: "Look at how far you have come Katie. I don't know many people that have come back the way you have since sophomore year." It is the truth. When I start to question my ability to excel in running, I have to realize that I have struggled to get to the point I am at today. After being forced to take a year completely off from running and exercise my sophomore year, I never imagined that I would make the comeback that I have. I am grateful for the ability to be running and healthy today and so thankful that so many people have stuck by me and supported me along the way. I may struggle from time to time, but if I really put things in perspective, I am successful because I haven't given up. I have almost completed four years of college running and for that, I am extremely proud of myself. Bring it senior year!

My La Verne team and running family <3