Wish me Luck!!!

Today I arrived in Boston to compete at the Indoor Championships. After my last competition some of you might be wondering what my state of mind is going into this weekend. Well I’m here to tell you it’s quite fantastic. I am well aware that as a track and field athlete it is imperative that you have a short-term memory when it comes to performances that might not be up to par. So I’ve moved on and I am claiming amnesia.

In my previous post about my meet in Birmingham I mentioned that the time I ran there might have been the worst in my career. Well it seems I was a tad bit overdramatic. When I told my coach that he assured me that it was not. I had ran slower a few times but beyond that, my PR in the 60 meters from college came the week after I had run a time almost virtually identical to what I ran last weekend.

There are many things I am still trying to figure out when it comes to the mental aspect of this sport, which in my opinion is more important than anything. I have realized in the post-collegiate part of my career that one of the most vital keys to my success in college was that I had an incredible ability to focus only on what was important and forget all the rest. Sure, I would get pissed off about bad performances but I always forgot them rather quickly and I never made it affect my outlook for the future. I never second-guessed my ability or what I was capable of and I always showed up to a competition with an overwhelming confidence that I would do well…at the very least better than everyone else who was lined up next to me. Seriously. The crazy thing is it worked 99.9% of the time. I notice what a gift that was only now, when I am working on regaining that belief in myself that is not so easily shaken.

This is my first year back training and competing as a serious sprinter in many years and I know that in some ways it’s a process and I need to be patient. Well, as patient as you can be when the goal is to peak and be better than everyone else in the country by the end of June! I’ve been doing a lot of positive things in practice that haven’t quite made their way to a race yet, but it’s there—and a debut of these improvements on Sunday would be nice. I know the 60 meters is not my specialty and I can’t say I’ve ever been spectacular at it, but the athlete I am right now at this point of the season is better than what has been shown so far and I know that so it’s just important for me to compete like I know that.

So…wish me luck. And pray. And throw a penny or two into the fountain. And then turn on the T.V. to ESPN 2 Sunday afternoon and check me out. You know what to look for…the hair, styling, whether the fries I ate for dinner made their way to my love handles, etc. I might be wearing a new, sparkly headband courtesy of my friend Jennie who says it’s good luck and since it’s done so well for her I figured I might give it a shot. But I’m not sure about it so I’ll need feedback. I’m counting on you.