Caitlin Chock has a good article on how Karissa Nelson has slowly become more serious about running each year.
Cait Chock wrote:
Her Freshman year, Nelson was only running five to six days a week, actually sometimes only four because she wanted to experience the 'non-running' side of college. "I think I needed to experience the social side of college so I could know what I was missing out on, and be completely fine with it, when I fully dedicated myself to running."
I really loved this anecdote where Nelson shares an interaction with her coach from last year (Kevin Ondrasek).
"My favorite thing about him though was that he never tried to force me to be an elite athlete. All he did was he took me into his office one day in the fall of 2015 and told me he thought I could be an elite athlete. I remember telling him that I didn't know if that's what I wanted, he didn't get mad or anything. He just told me that's okay and that it's a big decision to dedicate your life to running like that. Three months later I walked into his office and told him I wanted to do everything I could to be a professional runner. Then he helped me turn my career around."
The whole article reminds me that you can take a horse to water but you can't make it drink. Or as Mick Byrne once said to me, "You can't want it more than your athletes."
That drive has to come from them.
http://www.runblogrun.com/2017/05/the-secrets-out-karisa-nelson-bursts-onto-the-scene-inspiring-us-all-to-dream-a-little-bigger-by-cai.html