As a young, naive 14 year old girl just entering high school, the last thing on my mind was to join the track and cross country teams. All I cared about was "how does my hair look?" or "who needs to study anyways?" It's crazy how much can change after just a few months into freshman year of high school.

I remember this day vividly, and I'll never forget this moment. As I sat in the car with my mom, she kept telling me how much she loved track when she was in high school and how her brothers did it and they were really good long distance runners. She told me that I should join the track team in the spring. I was against the thought of it for the longest time, but then she told me "you're going to do track this spring no matter what." I can't argue with my mom and so that spring I joined the track team. The first event that came to my mind when I joined track was long distance. That's usually the last event people choose to compete in, because well I mean come on, who would want to run for fun? All the negative things I heard about it really didn't influence my decision on being a long distance runner.

After my first year as a long distance runner, I was surprisingly super excited to start my next season and to see where it would bring me. At this time, I was still playing on the basketball team in the winter. I was the runner who never ran come summer or fall and went into track just completely out of shape and not prepared for its demands.

My sophomore year of high school was a little different than my freshman year. We had just brought in a new long distance coach to help out our old coach with all of the workouts and go out on runs with us to make sure everything was going the way it should be. I was very skeptical about this new coach. Actually, I was terrified of her, she came into our program after one heck of a collegiate career both in cross country and in track and field. My teammates were saying how intense she was as a coach. At this moment, I was second guessing my decision on being a long distance runner, but a few of my teammates convinced me to stay. About halfway through the season with this new coach, I started realizing how amazing she was and how much she cared about our success as athletes and how much she wanted us to achieve our goals. As I started to succeed throughout the season, I started to realize how much potential I actually have and that this sport is something I need to commit myself to and not be distracted by other sports. The following year, I quit the basketball team and joined the cross country team.

Cross country was a completely new territory for me. Granted I have been a distance runner in track two years prior to joining cross country, I was still nervous to start this new journey in my life. I won my first meet that year, I don't really know how to explain the feeling of winning a race but all I know is that I'll never forget the feeling of that race. That specific race had motivated me more than ever, that season I came out of cross country with All-Conference honors and placed in the top 50 at our sectional meet. I was hungry for more, I wanted to reach more of my goals as a runner.

As track season rolled around, I couldn't wait to get out there and compete. I tried something new that year, I ran the 3200M (two miles), or better known as eight laps of fun! I had found my race. That season did not end the way I ever planned it to end though, I was injured the week before the biggest race of the season and I didn't compete up to par. I was devastated, and wanted to give up, but there's one thing that my coach told me before I raced and I still find myself, to this day, saying before I race, "when your legs can't run anymore, run with your heart." These words hold such a powerful meaning to me, especially since they came from one of the greatest people in my life. I can never be more thankful for them.

Senior year of high school rolled around and it's one of those years when you have to kind of start getting your life together. This was the year I was recruited by colleges to run. Running collegiately? That's a scary thought for so many athletes, including me. I knew that because I wanted to keep achieving my goals, I wanted to run in college. After choosing a school during early signing period, I was so excited to start my journey as a collegiate athlete, but first I had to finish off my high school running career with a bang.

Cross country was another season that didn't end the way I wanted it to, suffering yet another injury that affected me during the most important race in cross country (state qualifier meet). I did not finish the season the way I wanted, but that didn't stop me. I put in hundreds of miles over the winter and came into track season ready to go and ready to kill it. Kill it I did. I ended my senior year track season with All-Conference honors and placed in the top five at the section meet in the 3200M.

My first year as a college athlete went the complete opposite of what I wanted it to be. I was not able to compete and was forced to red-shirt the whole year; cross country, indoor track and outdoor track. I spent the whole year strictly training. I was negative about the situation at first, but realized that all the training I was doing would make me better and stronger for next years seasons. All of the support I received from coaches, teammates, family and friends was overwhelming. I came out my first year a stronger person both physically and mentally. I look back on that year and think of how thankful I am for that time and how it changed me for the better.

So, what has running actually taught me?

Running has taught me to never give up on your goals. One setback does not define you has a person or as an athlete. Those setbacks help you grow and make you stronger than your competition and keep you motivated to go after it more and more everyday. Giving up means you don't care enough to keep going, never quit when the going gets tough.

Running has also taught me how important coaches are and how you shouldn't take them for granted. My high school coach was more than a coach to me. She was a friend. Someone I could rely on for anything and someone who knew my strengths and weaknesses more than anyone, on and off the track. She knew when I was having a bad day and went out of the way to make sure everything was okay and that I was doing fine. She's the one I can call randomly and tell her about the cute dog I saw on my run. She's the one who helped me find my love for running, even in the dark times of my career. I can never express how thankful I am for her and how much she has impacted my life. Not only was my high school coach a big impact in my life, my current college coach is one heck of a coach. I've never met someone who wants to talk about VO2 max more than he does. He's someone who can make any workout or run better with his fun and outgoing personality. He is someone I will be forever grateful for. Never ever take your coaches for granted. Believe it or not, they have been in the same shoes as you and know what it's like. They are there for you in life's toughest moments. Keep them close.

Lastly, always stay positive. I'm still learning this today from running, being negative only makes it worse. Never let one bad workout or race get you down. You have to put in work in order to become better than you are right now. Trust your training and believe in yourself. Train fast, race fast.

Toe the line and leave it all on the course. Crush your competition.