Newsletter #2 "bad luck"

Author

Brett Meyer
September 30, 2023

2nd newsletter

May 17, 2023

Good afternoon!!

Here’s to Newsletter #2! I hope you enjoyed the first one. Again, this newsletter is to catch all of my people up on what is going on in the life of this runner and also (hopefully) share some inspiration and lessons I’ve been learning. Thank you all for tagging along and pouring into me. I feel that the saying “it takes a village” is very applicable in my case. The advantage I have with the community of support goes without saying!

A few updates to get things rolling:

  • I opened up my season with a 3:39.1 1500m (3:57 mile converted) at Azusa Pacific University in California. Ran like a rookie in lane two for the whole race… just getting the mistakes out of the way early in the season!

  • I ran a 4:00 minute mile at a very cool high school track meet, the Shawnee Mission North Relays! It was very disappointing to not break 4:00 for the fun crowd. I will always give respect to the sub-4 minute mile. This race in particular helped me get out of my comfort zone, push from the front, and not rely on others.

  • Each passing year feels like my favorite year of coaching... But this has by far been the best one yet! A recap:

    • The fifth year (or super) seniors this year were freshmen when I was a senior and this group has had one special season. It has been so cool to see how they have developed and overcome the ups and downs for the past five years.

    • The 4th year seniors are the first class I started coaching. This class and I have grown a lot together. I am very thankful COVID will give us another year together!

    • This year has really validated to me that to be good at running takes time and lots of it. These upperclassmen have come such a long way in this sport and they are only getting better!

      • One of my favorite quotes: “You don’t become a runner by winning the morning workout. The only true way to marshal the ferocity of your ambition over the course of many days, weeks, months and (if you can finally accept it) years.” The Trials of Miles; Miles of Trials. John L. Parker, Once a Runner

  • Training has been great! I’m continuing to do aerobic work and adding speed in lately. Still ranging from 70-85 miles a week. My body has felt heavy and tired lately but I know it will be fresh in July!

  • Runners can be kind of weird. We try so many things to help our training and to become the best athletes. If you walked into my house you would probably laugh at all of the silly gadgets I have. They may seem silly, but two game-changers right now that have helped me are toe spacers and nasal dilators.

    • Toe spacers have helped me regain mobility and have helped strengthen my feet greatly. I can even wear them while wearing my Altras, since they have the best toe box in the game!

    • Nasal dilators gently open your nasal passages, instantly increasing air flow, fueling your muscles with oxygen.

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At the end of every season, we ask our seniors to share the biggest life lesson they have learned from this sport. These messages are heartfelt and usually end with tears and hugs. It’s so neat the things this sport teaches us. At our end-of-the-year team meeting, I shared an edited, track-edition version of a speech by Chief Justice John Roberts. You can read his actual speech here. With an added twist, I thought it fit well with our seniors' graduation and advice to the underclassmen. Enjoy!

This sport is priceless. In a few years, you will start to realize all it was teaching you all this whole time. Thank you to every senior and upperclassman who came up and shared a lesson that they took away from their career. Now, take this lesson into context of what I’m trying to get across here. We want everyone to succeed in this sport and most importantly in life, but tough things are going to happen in this sport, such as life. Whether you benefit from them or not will depend upon your ability to see the message in your misfortune. Phil, I hope your injuries taught you to never give up when times get tough - take that lesson with you wherever you go next! Mattie, I hope your fall at nationals taught you perseverance, a way to dust the track off your skin and keep pressing forward. Ryan, the 2021 season had so many lows for you, but ended with a huge high - please teach others what that season taught you. Salmans, at times it felt like this sport has taken so much from you, but has given you even more. I’m so glad you get to teach our youth how to endure in the classroom and on the track. I hope you all take the lessons from this irrelevant, yet priceless, sport into your next journey.

Good coaches will tell you all “good luck,” to “go get 'em,” “go after that PR, school record, national qualifier, run fast, jump high, throw far.” Some coaches might even tell their athletes to say to themselves, “Screw it, I’m going for it.”

But today, I will not say any of those things. Actually, I wish you some bad luck in this sport. I hope you discover life lessons. I hope you make mistakes, learn from them, and remember lessons learned should be lessons shared!

From time to time, I hope you have injuries so you are more grateful when you are healthy. In your career, I hope you miss out on qualifying for the final when you should’ve advanced, so you understand that every final is earned, and every step and every second matters. I hope you get tripped in your race, to test your character. I hope just once, you’re first off of the list to make nationals. From time to time, I hope you go through a funk. I hope you get disqualified once or twice to teach you that life isn’t fair and that feeling sorry for yourself does nothing for anyone, except make everyone feel worse than they already do. And when you lose, as you will often in this sport, I hope your opponent will gloat over your failure. It is a way for you to understand sportsmanship and humility. Whether I wish these things or not, they will happen.

I hope you win! So you learn that the victory might make you happy in the moment, but that feeling will go away and, ultimately, it will never satisfy you.

Maybe I’m just a bad coach, but I hope these things happen to you from time to time. Yet again, whether you benefit from these lessons or not will depend upon your ability to see the message in your misfortune.

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