Destroy All Self-Doubt

These words resonate through my head quite often. I first heard them while watching a documentary by my favorite professional runner, Anthony Famiglietti. His movie, "Run Reckless," is definitely a favorite of mine. This small saying has had a huge impact on my running career. Though it has only been about a month since I first saw the movie, I have had many instances where I have needed to repeat this phrase in my head while running. During tough workouts, hard races, and even in non-running aspects of my life, especially in the classroom (I am a STUDENT-athlete afterall...). but it's more than just a phrase that gets uttered in these tough moments, it's what this phrase means to me that I go back to so often. It is true what they say, that anything is possible if you believe. I have HUGE goals and ambitions as a distance runner, many of which are probably outside of my ability to achieve. But whenever I catch myself doubting my ability to reach these goals, I think, "destroy all self-doubt." In my head, I go through all the things that I have overcome, gone through, dealt with in running. I tell myself that a champion doesn't give up when the going gets tough. That I can't reach my goals unless I am willing to push myself, give it everything I have in each and every practice and race. And giving my all doesn't always mean running as hard and fast as possible. During workouts and races, yes, it means pushing my body to the limit and running hard and fast, but on recovery days, it means controlling myself and running my mileage at a pace that will allow me to recovery for the next time I need to thrash my body. It means getting in a long run to build my aerobic base even more. It means going to bed on time to rest, eating well, and hydrating (something I need to do right now). It means stretching after every run. And taking every aspect of this running business serious. Because once I can do all that, I can take the next step to reaching my goals. And if I can do this, I will also destroy all self-doubt. All self-doubt that I am not cut out for this, that I will never be good enough. Destroy all self-doubt. Everyday I work on destroying it all, and once I do, I will destroy the clock.