I have had the privilege the last ten years of my life to be able to work with the cross country team at the high school I teach at.  Getting to interact with these young people in an environment that is NOT in a classroom and as intimate and raw as a sport like running is, and has been, an experience that I will treasure no matter where my life takes me.

During that decade runners have come through our program that range from student-athletes with special needs to state champions. Kids who improved from 30 minutes in a 5k to 19 minutes.  Kids who became slower over their years on the team.  Kids who found a niché for themselves in the high school environment.  Kids who learned they could do something that most people choose not to do and maybe they themselves didn’t think they could do.

But after reading some local and national interviews and posts, there is a common theme about those kids above.  These local and national “running figures”, some call themselves coaches used the word “I” a lot.  “I” coached them, “I” discovered them, “I” this and “I” that.  They, the coach, are taking credit for performances.  That is bull crap.  “I” did not improve my grades enough to be eligible.  “I” did not struggle through 8 to 9 minute miles.  “I” did not put that surge in at the 3k mark to try and take the lead.

Those are all the efforts of the individual.  I, the coach, cannot do any one of those things for them.  They have to choose to do so.  That is a beauty of running.  IT. COMES. DOWN. TO. YOU.  You shoulder the disappointment of a poorly run race.  You get the satisfaction of a PR.  Sure, friends and family and coaches get to share in that.  But really, the result is a product of what you have put in.  Only a coach who feels they have something prove to the world would for a second say they caused such and such to happen to one of the athletes they get to work with.  Coaches are a small part of a much bigger effort on the part of the runner.  As important as we are in the development of runners old and new, we need to remember that we can’t run the race for them.