Determination

Our Track & Field season as coaches begins in August as our staff goes on a retreat to plan for the upcoming year. Part of this time is spent on us planning how we can continue to build a successful culture in our program. A small part of what we did this August was each of us picking a word to describe where our focus was coming from for the upcoming year. The word I chose was "determination." This came from the conversations I had with many of my male athletes that were determined to win a conference championship especially when we found out that we would be hosting on our home course again.
Throughout the season I was inspired by so many of my student-athletes who showed determination as they pursued both their individual and team goals. A major part of this was the hard work and effort they put in by showing up for every workout prepared to do all that was asked of them and by taking the time to take care of themselves by doing all the "little things" such as foam rolling, icing, eating and sleeping right, and supporting their teammates to do the same. Many of them over came mental and physical obstacles at points during the season, but everyone stayed focused in attitude and action and we accomplished so many of the goals we laid out in August.

In case you weren't able to follow along this season here is a brief summary of what the team accomplished this fall:
The men again had 6 individuals earn All Conference USA honors as they took home the team championship.
The women improved to 4 individuals earning All Conference USA honors after having two take individual honors last year. The team again took home a solid 3rd place finish.
The Men and Women improved on their South Central Regional team finishes from last year with the men taking 4th and the women taking 8th. Charlotte Wilson earned individual All-Region honors and her 13th place finish was the highest by a female athlete in recent North Texas history.
The men had 3 individuals earn All-Region honors with Troy Taylor qualifying for the NCAA Championships.

Both teams saw substantial improvement and are determined to build on that success during both the Indoor and Outdoor Track season. I am so lucky to have such strong young people to coach and as I finish writing their winter break training I can't help but get excited for what I know each one of them will accomplish in the next six months!

So Proud of all of these determined student-athletes!

Update on my own running:

As the season has come to a close the word "determination" has taken on meaning for my own running. I haven't blogged since October. At that point in my own training I was excited about building my mileage and really sharpening myself into what I hoped would be the best 5k shape I had been in for the past couple years through some more 5k/10k specific workouts. The plan was for all of that fitness to hopefully culminate at the 2014 USATF Club Cross Country Championships on December 13th. I don't want to dwell on the accident that led to my current situation as I spent the past weeks being frustrated by a situation that I know was out of my control which as runner makes it even more upsetting to be still dealing with injuries and not being able to run the way I want to.
As returning to running to has been put on hold again  (after a couple weeks where I thought I might be able to salvage some of this fall's training) I have decided to keep my determination as I work towards my bigger goal of qualifying for the Olympic Trials is the marathon. Although I am not able to even run at the moment I am going to focus on what I can do to improve the injuries that the accident left me. I know the best way for me to have a chance at qualifying is to be patient as my body takes time to heal and resume training once my body is completely ready. I am going to be resolute in keeping my positive attitude and not waver from my ultimate goals.
I will still be making the trip to Club XC Nationals this weekend. Only instead of as a competitor I will be attending as a fan. I'm excited to see so many of my friends compete and support the sport that I love so much! I know it will be a great event and I can't wait to watch an impressive individual and team competition.