The definition of success

We leave today for Eugene for USATF Outdoor Nationals.  Sunday I'll race the 20K with all the best men and women in the US.  Ten women and six men will toe the line together hoping to reach their goals.  The main purpose of Outdoor Nats is to select the teams for the Pan Am Games and for the World Championships.  So for a number of competitors their definition of success will be whether or not they make the team.  Making the team = success.  Not making the team = failure.  With that mindset it is very black and white; you succeed or you fail.  But I think there's much more to success than that.

So what is success?  The dictionary defines success as:  the accomplishment of an aim or purpose.  Thus to be successful you must accomplish what you set out to do.  And that makes sense with the above paragraph.  If I set out to make the team and I make the team I have achieved success!  But many athletes seem to fall into traps where they set aims or purposes based on numbers or places.  When those numbers or places are achieved they feel great!  This is fantastic!  I love sports!  But if for whatever reason they don't achieve those aims (oh, let's just call them goals...) then there's depression, feeling like a failure, why do I train if I can't reach my goals?  Maybe I should just give up. 

What if there was a way to always reach your goal?  Every single time?  Without fail?  Do you believe it's possible?  Can you imagine what it would be like if every time you went out there you knew with 100% certainty that you would come away successful?  I think it's possible.  Some of you may think this way of thinking, this mindset, is a cop-out, but hear me out and let me explain...

Say I'm ready for the race of my life.  I've trained better than I've ever trained before, I'm stronger, faster, fitter.  Everyone says I'm ready for a massive PB.   Now, here are the two scenarios:
1.  Race day comes and it's a beautiful day, perfect weather conditions!  The course is flat and smooth, there's competition right around me helping me push and go faster.  It's the ideal race under ideal conditions and I'm in the ideal shape.  I barely even have to push and I do a PB!  Success!  Right?  Did I try my best?  Did I give it my all?  2.  The weather is crazy hot, the high is 90 plus degrees, no shade.  The course has a nasty hill in it and the pavement is all broken up.  I do my absolute best, I push, I give it everything I had, but with the conditions being what they were I do not do a PB.

Which scenario would you want to happen?  Let's face it, we all want scenario 1 because it resulted in a massive PB.  And no one wants scenario 2, who wants a bad time?  But I would challenge you to say scenario 2 was the most successful.  In the first scenario I said "I barely even have to push."  Am I trying?  Am I giving it my all?  No.  I may have done a PB, but I didn't do my best.  In the second scenario I gave it my all, right to the end. 

You don't have control over conditions and you don't have control over your competition.  On your best day others may be better than you.  On your worst day you may be better than your competition.  Weather/course/judges, those are all out of your control.  The only thing you can control 100% of the time is yourself.  How you view the race, what you say in your head, how hard you push.  If you go into every race with the attitude of "I will do my best, I will give it my all, I will NOT give up,"  then you can be successful 100% of the time.  Because then if you don't get the PB or you don't make the team you can still stand in front of the mirror, look yourself in the eye and know that you gave it everything you had.

So what are my goals for the race Sunday?  I'm going to give it my best.  I'm going to go out there, race smart, and leave it all on the course.  Who knows, maybe it'll be a PB day!  Maybe other things will get in the way and it won't be a PB day.  But what I do know, right now as I'm sitting here typing this getting ready to pack and travel out, is that I know for a fact I will be successful!  I will come away knowing I gave it my best and feeling excited and ready for the next challenges that await me.  If I PB, that's an extra, if I make a team that would be amazing! But I will be successful!

I wish everyone huge success!