I think those are two bits of advice that I took from my mentors in high school . Uh , so I feel like something that I did that kind of differentiate myself from my competition was kind of looking within myself before I competed . So I would meditate , read books about runners that I wanted to be like and kind of like take running not super seriously to the point where it would run me into the ground , but kind of recognize it like this is an extension of who I am as a person .
I always thought like , oh , if I'm prepared for a competition , I'll be able to race better cause I know who's in my game . But honestly , taking it one race at a time and not knowing those things , I learned as I got older , um , Help you even more because you're able to focus more on your own race , and you're able to focus more on your own success when you're not constantly comparing . So , impostor syndrome , another thing that went into that is , I would always look up at other athletes who were elite , so people who are winning the state meet in high school , people who are winning the national meet , and I was like , they're so good , I'll never be as good as them .
I'm not gonna be able to succeed or go run in college because I'm not as good as these people in high school . Um , and that's another thing that I struggled with , um , when I was in high school was because I realized like , you're still able to be successful in your own way without comparing yourself . So that's definitely a struggle that I went through when I was in high school .
So being able to understand that it's , it's a space for every collegiate athlete . Division 1 , Division 2 , Division 4 , whatever division you are , whatever kind of athlete you are , it's a space for everyone to tap into . It's also a space where you can make money and you can really have cool brand deals .
So , I think a lot of the time when it comes to long-distance running , your mind matters so much , like your mental strength , your mental , your mental health and everything like that . And even from when I was in high school , it's something that I'm still working on now , working on my nutrition and my mental health in addition to training hard , were things that set me apart within my training and helped me succeed as an athlete . So when I was in high school , I struggled a lot with comparing myself to other people .
