Read This When You Need It
After a bad race, run or day...
Thank you for reading this. I mean it. Thank you. You know you don’t need to read this. But you are anyway. And I appreciate that. I’m not sure if you heard anyone say “thank you” to you today before you opened this newsletter. But now at least I know that you’ve gotten one “thank you”. Pretty cool. Pretty cool that you’ve done something deserving of some thanks don’t you think? I hope so. But I also know that many of us struggle to believe we do much of anything that’s deserving of thanks… or praise… or a hug… or a high five. But I also know that many of us are idiots about some things. I’m an idiot about all sorts of things. But I’m no idiot when it comes to people and how nasty and unsupportive they can be to themselves. I know what’s up.
That’s why I know that sometimes I need to believe in someone before they can believe in themselves. I know that sometimes I need to support someone while they figure out they have enough strength to stand on their own. I know that sometimes I need to give context to a time or a distance to a duration that someone just ran. I know that sometimes I need to stand up to the bully that lives inside someone’s head. I know that sometimes we are hurt but happy and I need to help someone heal. And I know that sometimes we are healthy but hurting and I need to help someone heal.
So, here’s what I want you to do. Read through what comes next. And when you need to hear what I’ve wrote… could be in a week or a month or a year… could be right now… I want you to read what you need to hear. Just pretend I’m there and saying it to you directly.
(Imagine me looking dapper of course. You’ll need to really use that imagination of yours because my closet is basically one pair of jeans and a couple hundred shirts from different races. Feel free to imagine me in all sorts of great outfits. I’m starting to realize that this aspect of the newsletter is not really essential. Superfluous ramble over.)
AFTER A BAD RACE
How are you doing? Seriously. How are you doing? I know you’re disappointed. I want you to know it’s okay to say it. In fact, I want you to say it out loud. “Yeah, I’m disappointed!” Badass. I love it. Not because I wanted you to have a bad race. Not at all. It’s badass because you care. It’s badass because this race meant something to you. It’s badass that you knew there was a chance that it wasn’t going to work out because you know there are no guarantees on the other side of that starting line. And you know that it’s hard… really hard… to do something great. And you raced anyway. That’s what is badass.
You had a bad race. I can deal with that as a coach. I look forward to hearing all about it. We can talk about what went wrong during the race. We can discuss how maybe training should have been adjusted or the race plan should have been different. We can talk about mistakes you may have made. We can talk about periods where maybe you lost focus or were too aggressive or too conservative. I eat that stuff up! I love that part! I hope you do too. Because that’s what it is all about. Searching for new ways and paths to get better.
Do you know that I dedicated ten years of my life to trying to break 4 minutes in the mile? I did. I trained and tried to break 4 for years! I ran thousands and thousands of miles in the hope that one of them would be run in less than 240 seconds.
I never did though. Never reached that goal. You could say I failed. You’d be right. I failed to achieve my biggest goal every time I raced the mile. It’s what I’m most proud of as an athlete. Because I tried. I tried again and again. I was fast. But I was never fast enough to catch what I had been chasing. So many starting lines hoping and believing that I’d reach the finish line as a sub 4 miler only to take the next starting line hoping and believing the same thing again.
I got to know myself so much better along the way. And over the course of all those miles one of the things I learned was that trying my best was me at my best. No time on a clock will ever be able to teach you that. It’s what you do during the time on the clock that matters. And what you just tried to do matters.
Now go cool down. More starting lines await.
AFTER A BAD RUN
How are you doing? Really. How are you doing? It’s the most important question I got. And yes, I know I asked you the same thing before the run. But so much has changed since then. You did a run! That’s a big deal! What? The run sucked? Okay. Why? I’m only asking because there are so many reasons why a run may suck. Now that I think about it… it’s amazing that any runs don’t suck. Long days at work. Stressful days at school. Hard days at home. Missed meals. Not enough to drink. Too much to drink. High temperatures. Low temperatures. Darkness. Travel. Traffic. Pollen. Pollution. Potholes. Palpatine.
My point is that there is a lot working against you. Which is why it always takes work to get the work in. It’s not easy to do a run. But you did. Don’t ignore that truth. And sometimes it’s not easy to even run easy. Sometimes even easy is hard. Just like in life. But this is what you just did: you got through a tough run. That matters. That means something. At least it matters as much as you let it. And it means what you choose it to mean. I’m not telling you to smile and clap and dance about the crappy run you just had. I just don’t want you to fail to see that this run isn’t a failure. It’s just a crappy run. But it’s a crappy run you ran. And even a bad run has some good… if you allow yourself to see it.
Maybe there are some things that you could have done to make this run a better crappy run. Great. You see? You just learned something! Tuck that earned wisdom away for another crappy run. Because there absolutely will be another crappy run. But next time it will be less crappy. And maybe there was nothing you could have done. You don’t fight a crap run. You just run that crap run as best as you can. That’s all I can ask of you. Give your best. Give your best on your best days. Give your best on your worst days. Give your best on all those days between. Do that and you’ll be at your best. I don’t need to know the time on your watch to know that. Because there isn’t any collection of numbers that means more to me than hearing from you that you tried your best.
It’s not about becoming perfect. Because that’s not ever going to happen. Bad runs… bad races… bad days… they’re going to happen no matter how hard you try. But if you try your best on those bad runs, bad races and bad days you’ll be a badass. How do I know that? Because trying your best is badass.
Okay? Okay. See you on that next starting line. Go get some rest. Because something extraordinary just may be waiting for you on the other side of that line.
NEW COACH BENNETT’S PODCASTS
There are THREE… yes… THREE new Coach Bennett’s Podcasts waiting for you! Nirvana! Actually, Pearl Jam! More on that below. Check out the latest episodes and thank you for subscribing and rating and reviewing the show. I appreciate it!
PEARL JAM IS BACK!
I write. I write a lot. And when I write I need music on. Same goes for when I drive or cook or pick up the insane amount of dog crap in my backyard. I listen to music all the time. When I was in high school I fell in love with a new band from Seattle. That band served as my life soundtrack for years. And they just dropped their latest album Dark Matter. I am loving this album. I bet you will too. My favorite songs so far are Wreckage, Won’t Tell, Waiting For Stevie and obviously… Running.
HAYWARD FIELD AT DUSK
I was lucky enough to attend the Oregon Relays this weekend in Eugene at legendary Hayward Field. The meet is mostly a high school meet with the college and pro races sprinkled throughout the Friday/Saturday schedule. I was able to get a quick bite to eat with Coach Bennett the Greater aka tammie at the always great Wild Duck and before that I snuck in a really nice 30 minute run on Pre’s Trail. Then it was time to get to Hayward and watch some Track & Field.
There were a number of extraordinary performances. A world best Distance Medley Relay was one of the Friday highlights and a young Bennett ripping a nice 800m on Saturday was my personal favorite moment of the entire weekend.
Honorable mention goes to the stunning scenery at dusk there on the backstretch. Sometimes you just need to look harder at what’s there in front of you.
Thank you for subscribing and for reading Coach Bennett’s Newsletter. Thank you for sharing it amongst family and friends and teammates. And if you are one of the paid supporters of this newsletter… thank you for that too. It helps. It really does.
Until next time… take care of yourself… take care of each other.
Cheers,
Coach Bennett
Hey Coach,
I’d just like to say, you are a Stoic of our times..
We look back and read Marcus Aurelius for knowledge and guidance, that’s how I read your emails, so thank you, especially this one.
I’ve had more bad runs lately then ever before, and this one, this email, just really hit the spot
So thank you
Hey coach!
Just want to thank you. Really.
Going forward to give my best, even in a crappy run or a crappy day.
Also, would you mind if I translate your posts newsletter to Portuguese?
A know a lot of people here in Brazil that would make a good use of words like this but don't speak English (of course the credits would be given).