The 2023 Austin Half Pt. 1

Throughout my life I've always put a big competition on a pedestal, and often times it's caused me to perform poorly. Although I was always a top ranked athlete in my sport (in high school and in college) I never won a NCAA title, and I never won a state championship. More times than I could count I'd been the favorite or a close contender, but by the time I made it to the runway I would have spent weeks thinking of how I hadn't done enough. In the days leading up to an important meet I would tell myself that what I'd been doing wasn't working and that I needed to do something drastic if I wanted to succeed. I was a total basket case, and I can imagine that I was a difficult athlete to coach.

The 2023 Austin Half Marathon was no different, except for one detail, I spent (as many of you probably know from my Instagram) a lot of the time training through a potential tear in my glute. At the time I contracted the injury I'd been well into my training for the half and looking for a big PR. I was fortunate enough to not have any serious injuries throughout my high school and college careers, until I contracted one in college that eventually lead to my decision to stop pole vaulting altogether.

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