Winning the Race

This is very important.

I overhead one of our student athletes say that she was "last" in the race yesterday. Parents please clarify to your children that no one is last in the race, ever. And when I say race, I mean jump or throw as well.

First to be exact, you may be last in your heat, but you could be middle of the pack in the overall race, which includes multiple heats.

Regardless of that and most importantly, your point of comparison should be first and only your own performance. Perspective is the key.

So if I you ran an 8:30 mile last week, and this week you ran it in 8:10, you won. It doesn't matter if someone else ran faster than you in the same race, you are racing against your own personal best, and if you set a new personal best, you are improving and that means you won. There's always somebody somewhere that will be faster than you, and somebody somewhere who is slower than you.

The only way you can be last is if you stop improving.