love running, hate competing

Your father is a misogynist, right?

gtc8:

It's possible that you will get less stressed out over time. I was a very nervous competitor in junior high and early in high school. By the time I was a senior I was not even nervous before races! It can change and the greatest thing about all the competition is the wonderful people you will meet.

Calm down and enjoy your talent and see where it takes you. A lot of this stress is self-imposed. Shrug off the pressure--people just want to show support but they're not going to die if you don't do well, and if they do care that much, that's their problem.

You are in high school. Why are you thinking about traveling on the weekends? Try to have fun within the constraints of your schedule which is not all year long. You have a lot of time in front of you for everything you want to do. If you didn't love running, I would say quit. But it sounds like you enjoy it, just not the pressure of doing well, which is going to come up for you in whatever endeavor you partake in because that's probably just your personality.

Fun is more fun when it's limited and there's a contrast to some serious discipline in your life.

why would that matter

Grace, why would you post so much information on the internet.

I was the opposite. Loved competing, hated training, at least hated mindless everyday miles.

That feeling you get as race officials put you on the track... Nothing like it.

how did you know my name... did i actually put too much info on the internet

I wish I had known that, for me at least, it was mindless everyday miles that I needed to succeed.

I was busy doing 800s, 600s, 400s, and 200s in the mind numbing sun during my summer vacations.

Not saying it didn't help. No doubt i should have done way more of them.

Just that I hated it at the time.

Saying you won the 4xmile at NBN already made it too easy for someone to find out. But I don't think it's a big deal.

Anyways,

Enjoy your talent, and remember to always compete for yourself. You're not running for your parents, or to impress a college, or for a scholarship, just compete for yourself. Everything else comes with that. Don't worry about it.

The problem is that the stress that comes from competing doesn't go away. It just shows up in different forms. It's the same stress you'll feel when you take a major exam, or when you go in for an important job interview, or when you give an important presentation. You'll be a lot better off if you can find a productive way to respond to stress right now, and you're lucky to have an activity like running where you can practice responding to stress in positive ways.

You can quit running, but are you also going to quit school and never get a job? Because that's the only option for avoiding performance-related stress. Steve Magness has been writing about stress lately - go take a look at his recent blog posts.

Ooops wrote:

Enjoy your talent, and remember to always compete for yourself. You're not running for your parents, or to impress a college, or for a scholarship, just compete for yourself. Everything else comes with that. Don't worry about it.

All 100% true. But, in practice, kind of hard to do.

It's important to learn the things that are causing you such unpleasant feelings. Per the quoted post, if you can get to a place where there's joy and you are running for the things that are meaningful to you, the definition of competition will change.

Next time, don't post so much easily identifiable information.

Rule #1 of the Internet is: the Internet never forgets.

Can you share with us some of your teams training. Cause you guys dominate. Eliza is seriously goals too. I wanted to make a big jump this year in track so I trained my butt off this winter but nothing. Same times, same results.

Honestly, I would LOVE to be you. You have such great coaches and a great team and great resources to become somebody. Just find a love for running. Love going out on sunset runs and running on your own out on those hills. It took me awhile to love this sport but I can't get enough of it. Except now I'm struggling because I'm just not producing the results I want. Please, any insight would be greatly appreciated. I really want to run at Boise State or Ohio State, I'm also a sophomore. Thank you.

Bump

This is your life. It doesn't belong to your parents, your school or anonymous LetsRun posters. You do not need to feel guilty for making a choice that makes you happy. You may be stressed because being a good runner has become your identity and it's scary to think of the unfamiliar. You already know what you enjoy and don't enjoy, so follow that. Otherwise, you'll dig yourself into a miserable hole. It's not sustainable.

Take up ultra running, they don't compete it's just guys jogging around in the woods taking pictures.

Gulan Rapp wrote:

xxx, why would you post so much information on the internet.

Why would you use her name? What's wrong with you?

The hardest thing to do at your age is to stop caring what other people think, and it sounds like that is your fundamental problem. You worry too much about letting others down. This is a problem that will simply shift to other things (academics, career, etc.) unless you learn how to overcome it. In other words, quitting running won't necessarily fix what is wrong.

The problem with this mindset can also affect how you perceive success. In a world where you worry that people are judging you for failures, you also often expect to be praised and lauded for your success. There is a reason why people call it "15 minutes of fame," because it fades quickly.

You also mentioned traveling and having free weekends - if this is truly your concern, you will need to do a cost-benefit analysis of what is important to you. I have some great memories of trips and having fun with friends, but I can also tell you that some of my warmest memories revolve around the race experience. I am always able to drift back and smell the leaves and damp grass of cross country, or the baking rubber of a track in spring. What will you miss or regret the most when you are 30 years old - the lost social opportunities, or the lost athletic opportunities?

Mr. Doritos wrote:

The hardest thing to do at your age is to stop caring what other people think, and it sounds like that is your fundamental problem. You worry too much about letting others down. This is a problem that will simply shift to other things (academics, career, etc.) unless you learn how to overcome it. In other words, quitting running won't necessarily fix what is wrong.

This

It's difficult to understand this as a teenager in general but this is amplified in your case since you're even more in the spotlight. Just need to try control the outside noise and understand they just want to support you, however; never feel like you have to perform to other peoples expectations. Don't put the weight of the world on your shoulders, understand your only human and we're not perfect (even though some feel like they are).