Crossing the Line: How a 10K Inspired Bigger Goals

I recently coached my best friend to his first 10k. He ran a few 5k’s before but never trained seriously for a race. He wanted to get serious about running and use the 10k as motivation to stick with it if the initial excitement wore off. Overall, it was a great learning experience for both of us. I wanted to share his experience and lessons learned because I think it’s something we can all relate to chasing athletic or life goals.

Starting with the race prep, it was honestly up and down. Motivation came in spurts, some all or nothing weeks happened in the middle. There were some weeks when no training happened. Stuff like that happens with a busy life. This athlete is working at a new job 12 hours per day. He’s in the National Guard and has weekend travel obligations for that once per month. He also started counting macros and building a small lifting routine at the same time.

Is all that a bad thing if it affects running training? I don’t think so. What I saw is someone in constant pursuit of making himself better. I know him on a personal level like a brother, and the new job is a huge win for him. He’s serving our country. He’s taking control of his fitness schedule, despite having little time. I consider all that a win even if running training took a backseat in priority. If someone has that much energy to attack all areas of life, holding them back because “your training won’t be optimal” is detrimental to their attitude.

In the weeks training happened, this athlete was locked in and detail oriented. The enthusiasm for the race never wavered. I was impressed that despite battling constant obstacles, he still showed up to each workout excited to run and kept the enthusiasm about the race.

The race itself threw all kinds of challenges at him. First, he rode his bike through Chicago streets to the starting line. Then he ran a good distance to the starting line in fear he was running late. “My legs felt pretty heavy, it was hard to get into my race pace at all”. We had a good laugh together that he did a mini-brick workout leading into the race.

Another challenge was weather. It rained while he rode to the race and while waiting to start. His shoes became waterlogged and were miserable to run in the entire time.

During the race he faced clothing issues from them being soaked, which led to chafing and rubbing discomfort.

In our race recap call, I listened to him list all these issues. I stayed quiet until the end, but in the back of my head I was thinking “Oh no, I think he hated this and is done with running”. As he finished the recap, he went right into the lessons he learned, unprompted. I was shocked and proud of the lessons he pulled out:

“That was awesome, I don’t even know what my time was. All I care is I found a way to finish”

“I learned more from the things that went wrong than the things that went right”

“I’m signing up for a marathon immediately. I get the importance of the prep now; I want this feeling after a bigger challenge”

Those are some of the best things I could ask to hear as a coach, but I was also so proud as a friend. Watching him take control of his life in all areas and extracting these valuable lessons from a race was special.

I then asked him what if I told him about all these race challenges before he started the prep, would he still do it?

The honest answer was no. The best part of his post-race clarity was realizing the confidence came from doing and overcoming, not from planning and thinking. Quitting in the face of adversity is the only failure and leads to regretting the decision forever.

It’s been a few weeks since the race and this athlete is starting marathon prep. The consistency has increased drastically after seeing how it can affect race performance. I’m excited to see his growth for the marathon and the lessons he pulls from it.

The takeaway: race builds can be messy juggling other life priorities, and that’s ok. Race success isn’t determined by the time you post, but how you follow up on the commitment you made to yourself. This athlete is a perfect example of how crossing a finish line is never a failure, and the confidence gained from it can energize you to take on even bigger goals.