Cross Country Update: Stasia Demick
10/1/2015 11:35:00 AM | Cross Country, General
Pepperdinesenior cross country student-athlete Stasia Demick gives us her thoughts on whyshe runs:
Thoughtson failure by a college cross country runner:
Howcrazy does one have to be to willingly compete in endurance racing and cooldown with a brisk 14 miles at a seven-minute pace? I would venture to sayconsiderably crazy.
Thisinsanity somehow applies directly to how to live a successful life.
Whatstarted out as a free extracurricular 15 years ago that my two working parents signedme up for proved to be the most rewarding passion of my past 21 years.
Whyshould you possibly care about running? I would say one of the most crucialreasons is because running challenges our fear of failure as human beings.
Anyonewho doesn't yet enjoy the sting of rejection can relate to this overt avoidanceof failure. The word itself brings back memories of the past that beg to beforgotten.
Ipray none of you ever experience the sting of being stood up on a date orgetting less-than-stellar grades, but for those of us who can recall someexperience that highlighted our inadequacies, running helps reconcile one's irrationalfear of failure.
ElbertHubbard once said, "The greatest mistake you can make in life is continuallyfearing you will make one." But it is so much easier said than done.
Anyachievement requires two things:
1.A risk
2.Some degree of pain.
Let'stake running a race as an example (metaphorically or literally depending onwhat you're into). Winning a race will require taking chances such as going outfast or sticking with a competitor and trusting your kick. Unless, of course,you are overqualified, in which case a victory is hardly an achievement. Additionally,racing requires pain. It will require you to exert yourself mentally andphysically for the duration as well as in preparation for weeks/months/yearsprior.
Sono pressure. What could possibly go wrong?
That'swhen the worst-case scenarios begin to run laps in your head: you get last, yourun the slowest time of your life, all the effort and sacrifices were in vain, orperhaps your mother posted a picture of you peeing your pants and droolingmidrace on her timeline.
That'senough to make a girl want to play it safe, stride in and finish with just anokay place. But to do that is to give up, and that is the real failure.
InThe Alchemist, Paulo Coelho writes:"Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself,and no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams." 'Failure' then, is not a traumatic permanentmark on our memories; rather, it is a stepping stone towards success. Realfailure is not giving all of yourself to what you love, what drives you anddefines who you are.
Runningtaught me that when we are doing what we are made to do there would be nosuffering. Discomfort and strain and resilience yes, chafing maybe, butsuffering will not result from pursuing one's passion with all one's heart.
Thatbeing said, how much more successful could we be if we replaced our fear offailure with striving for success? Rejection turns educational. Failure becomessynonymous with progress towards one's goal. C.S. Lewis said it best when he commented,"Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny."
Runninghas challenged me to give all of me to the things I care about--on and off thetrack. And when I do that and fall short, those become celebrations of progressinstead of an empty carton of Ben and Jerry's in the late hours of night.
Runningthen, instructs us on how to do life: in celebration of our growth and devotedto what we feel called to do.
Didrunning 14 miles just become more relatable? Or did you just become considerablycrazier?
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