I can't help but feel guilty that I made it to my State Championship

You are thinking too hard. Focus on prepping for the state meet, and not finishing DFL there. Haters gonna hate.

One year my friend made it to regionals in track season (800m) simply because another of his teammates tripped and fell in the last 150m. If that wouldn't have happened, my friend wouldn't have gone.

Then he got sick, and ran 2:08, getting last in his heat at regionals. He was ashamed, embarrassed, and felt very guilty. His teammate that fell down assured him it was okay and it wasn't his fault, and he felt a little better after that.

I myself have never been in that kind of situation, but if you survey the way your teammates feel about you going to state, I'm sure you'll realize that they're happy at least one of their teammates is going. They may be disappointed it's not them, but if they're decent people, they won't wish anything bad upon you and they won't question your merit as a runner. Whoever goes to state goes to state. If you get injured, too bad. That's the sport.

Oh yeah, and my friend who ran 2:08 when he was sick at regionals was a 1:58 guy, just to give you an idea of how awful and ashamed he felt after that. I swear he was depressed for a while.

You must live in a small state

You're a senior, this was your last chance ever. Don't feel ashamed, that junior will have another chance next year, while you'll be gone. Also, I'm sure your team mates don't feel the same way as you do, I'm sure they're happy for you.

My senior year, we were ranked high going into the state meet, but my no means the favorite. Our fourth man was a 1:58 half miler. We all ran really well in the state championship, but our 4th man ran out of his mind and finished first on our team, 7th in the state. We ended up winning the state championship by just a few points that year (late 1970's), and we really owed it to our fourth man who ran so fabulously. Now we have a memory that has lasted a lifetime. If our half miler had run where he normally did, we would have probably finished 4th.

Don't sell yourself short. Frank Shorter only ran 4:29 in high school for the mile. Should he feel guilty for winning a gold medal? Short answer: No.

Go get 'em Doood! Go prove to yourself that you deserve to be there. There are runners much slower than you who qualified for the meet as well, and you're going to beat them. They won't feel guilty. You threw down, you qualified, and you deserve to go. Go make yourself proud.

mid distance dood wrote:

I'm a senior and this is my first year as a distance runner. I wanted to run xc after I ran 1:58 in the 800 last track season off of 20mpw at the most. I ran 40mpw and have run mid-to-low 17s most of the season and broke 17 once.

I just qualified as the 15th man in our region with a time of 17:02.

The reason I feel guilty is because I'm the first boy from our school to make it in 6 years.

Nice humblebrag

Your coaches must suck if everyone runs their best early in the season or gets injured before the end of the season.

This sport isn't just about your PRs, it's also about durability. If you made it, you deserved to make it. If you don't feel worthy, focus on running as fast as you can and prove to yourself that you do deserve it.

Armchair Miler wrote:

Your coaches must suck if everyone runs their best early in the season or gets injured before the end of the season.

Definitely wouldn't say we have bad coaching. Our coach has brought our girls team to the state meet four years straight and has helped all the seniors progress positively each year and now they have a legit shot at the podium. All the injuries and burning out on the boys side is simply unfortunate circumstances year after year