Students Run LA’s Post

Today I ran for the first time ever "El Madrugador 30K", is a race held in Santo Domingo full of physical resistance and mental strength to mention a few adjectives. I trained hard for months to keep a decent pace, got the right nutrition before and during the race, stayed hydrated. However, even all that preparation I could not avoid "hitting the wall" so I struggled between Km 22-25. I followed the advice of the SME's (Subject Matter Experts) in order to overcome the wall, in the physical side, I decreased my speed, drank small sports drink, consumed gel to get fueled, and in the mental side, I said some positive self-talk, envisioned myself in finishing the race, and reminded the reasons why I was running for, but anything seemed to be working and my struggle continued, in that scenario is when I learned a few lessons that I want to share with you and I consider can be applied to personal and professional lives: 1. Stand up straight with your shoulders back: that is the first rule in Jordan Peterson "12 rules for life an antidote to chaos". At km 24 a runner that passed me by said "lift your head up", if I kept running like that I was going to end up in the ground sooner than later, so I lifted my head up, stood up straight and with my shoulders back and kept running. At the end of the race I looked for the runner but could not have find him. 2. The mention of my name: with no spirit of sound narcissistic (those who met me personally know how far I am from being one), Cesarina a friend of my family and a team member of the sports club I belong to (she was not in the race) at km 25 showed up in her bike and called me by my name, I lifted up both arms and got pumped up, cheers came to encourage me to keep going and finish it up, in a good team, team members cheer you up when struggles come and are by your side to get the goal. Besides, it reminded me of one of the principle of Dale Carnegie in his book how to win friends and influence people, says "that a person's name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language". Call a person by his name when is struggling, and he will feel that he is important and high chances are that you will lift his spirit! Keep the good work going!

Guess what left my old friends absolutely jaw-dropped? I became a runner! Believe me, no one saw it coming. Here's how I transformed running from something I absolutely hated to a second-nature habit that truly sticks: - Start Small: Begin with just 10 minutes. - Achieve Quick Wins: I completed my first 5K race only 8 weeks in. Victories propel you forward. -Treat It Like a Game: Progress from a 5K to a 10K, then to a half-marathon, and finally, a marathon. Have a dream? For me, it's qualifying for Boston one day. -Every Mile Counts: Whether it's a fast run, a recovery jog, or a walk, it all matters. - There Is No Bad Run: You'll always feel better than when you started. - It's More Than Just Running: For me, it's led to incredible friendships. What makes a habit stick for you?

𝐇𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐨, 𝐤𝐚-𝐓𝐚𝐫𝐯𝐚! "Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after the other." - Walter Elliott This quote reminds us that success is not a one-time event, but a series of small steps that lead to a bigger goal. It also encourages me to keep going, even when we face challenges or setbacks. Sometimes, we feel like giving up or losing hope, but then we remember that every race we finish is a victory in itself. We think this quote is especially relevant in these difficult times, when we are all facing uncertainty and change. We may not know what the future holds, but we can control how we respond to the present. We can choose to persevere, to keep running our short races, and to celebrate our progress along the way. We hope this quote inspires you as much as it does to us. We would love to hear your thoughts on it, and how you are applying it to your own life. Feel free to comment below or send me a message. We’re always happy to hear from you. Stay strong, stay positive, and stay safe.

I think we all enjoy getting better at what we do. It's very satisfying. I used to coach endurance runners, and it was very easy to see and measure progress. I remember my first season as a cross country runner, I dropped my 3-mile time from 20:30 to 17:30 from August to November. As I cooled down after that conference race, I thought, "Okay, next year I'll drop another three minutes, and that 14:30 should get me a win at the New England championship race." That was my fifteen year-old brain doing what it did best: a quick side-step around reason and a grasshopper jump to a ridiculous conclusion. Could I have dropped another three minutes the following year? Maybe. It would have been quite a stretch, but maybe. Did I? Nope. I quickly learned that the better you get, the harder it is to get better. Now I believe that the effort required to drop from 14:45 to 14:30, just fifteen seconds, is probably equivalent to the effort I put into dropping those first three minutes. I think that's true in everything we put our hearts into. The work that goes into ongoing progress ratchets up in intensity as our performance improves, whether we're students, athletes, house-painters, musicians, teachers, or maintenance workers. As I've realized this, I've become more grateful for the "seconds" rather than being discouraged by the "minutes." If the answer to the question "How good?" is "Better," the seconds matter.

He had tried and failed 477 times. But on the 478th attempt, Richard Bland finally won a European Tour golf tournament after almost two decades. At 48, he also became the oldest first-time winner in European Tour history. Persistence pays off. If you have an important goal, you might need to continue working on it for a long time. Not many goals take 20 years to achieve, but many things do take years. To keep yourself motivated and moving forward, you need to ensure you have a way to record your progress. If you want to write a book, keep a record of how many words you write each day. If you want to run a marathon, keep a log of your running distances, speed, and times. I keep a journal to keep track of my progress, and I encourage you to do so, too. You can achieve amazing things if you keep working on it. And track your progress.

🧠 Mindset Monday: What ALL runners can learn from Walmsley's UTMB journey I think it can be hard to find elite runners relatable, but I believe that ALL runners can learn from Jim Walmsley's journey to finally winning UTMB this year. Jim is arguable one of the best ultra runners in the world and yet he DNFed UTMB in 2018 and 2021, placed 5th in 2017, and placed 4th in 2022. He just couldn’t seem to nail that race and reach his goal of winning. Even after 4 attempts of not reaching his goal, he kept at it. It takes a lot of resilience, determination, and openness to potential failure to continue attempting hard goals. Accomplishing hard running goals does not happen overnight. It is important to keep the long game in mind and recognize that we grow as runners year after year, not just within a short training block. It’s easy to give up, but it takes a lot of strength to fail, get back up, and keep trying.