Guest Post by Katie O’Hagan…a distance runner from Toronto heading to Oklahoma State University on a track scholarship.
Being an athlete has its ups and downs, and one of the toughest but most important things is being mentally strong. If you can’t deal with letdown or failure, you probably shouldn’t do sports because it is going to happen at one point or another. The biggest thing I have learned this year is that the best way to get better is to take these letdowns and use them as motivation to make you stronger.
I have been running track since I was about 12 years old, and last year was probably the best year of my life in terms of performance. I won a few meets for the first time, got myself a bronze medal at junior nationals, and set a 5 second personal best missing the world youth standard by 0.14 seconds. On top of everything, I was lucky enough to earn a scholarship to Oklahoma State University, and I had never been happier because all my hard work was finally worth it. I consider myself so lucky, because I love track; and it has evolved from something I do for fun, to something that can pay for my education and give me amazing chances in life.
This year, I was expecting more of the same; improve my times, win the important meets, and my ultimate goal was to qualify for the Canadian world junior team. I started having some injury problems but I tried to keep going, because I knew I couldn’t afford to miss any training. By March, I was told I had a pinched nerve in my back, and I had to back off my training. I took some time off, and as soon as I was feeling a little better I started training hard again. By May, the problem hadn’t gone away and my knee and hip started hurting on top of everything, and I actually forgot what it felt like to feel good and pain-free.
So I was forced to make one of the toughest decisions I’ve ever made – either race, and not feel 100%, or shut it down and skip the high school season. As a grade 12, this was really difficult for me because I knew I had a chance to win OFSAA and do really well this year. But in the end I decided that racing wasn’t worth it; if I did badly it would hurt my confidence, and it would make my recovery time so much longer. So I stopped running completely, and put all my effort into cross training and getting better.
If there’s anything I’ve learned this year, it’s that ignoring your problems will only make them worse. When you are injured, your body is telling you that it needs rest, so you better listen to it. Probably one of the hardest parts of an injury is staying motivated, and some days I thought it would never get better. The reason I don’t give up is because I remember how good it felt to be successful, and to win; it’s the best feeling in the world and it is worth the wait to get it back. So treat your body right, and if something goes wrong, deal with it properly. Don’t ignore it and hope that it will go away, because it won’t.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Thank you Katie for the great post! I learned from your post myself : )
great post!
She’s a great writer and a great athlete! But what she says is true! Face them!