Be so good they can't ignore you.

Growing up I always thought I was gunna be a professional soccer player. Playing since I was 5 the sport was all I would do. I knew that I was a very average player and I only stuck with it because if the fun in it.

Freshman year came and I didn’t make the soccer team. Out of all the kids that tried I was one of the 3 that didn’t make the team. 

My mom is the reason I started cross country. She still wanted me to do a sport to keep me active. 

So the first race comes and I run around 25 minutes for a 5k. One of the slowest on the team. I really didn’t feel like the sport was for me and that I should just quit. 

Sophomore year was pretty much the same story as freshman year so I won’t go in to detail.
But is the off-season after that and that track season of Sophomore year that made me want to be great. 

When you ask a coach about there team they will always tell you about there varsity and maybe there top JV. You never hear about the runners who don’t impact the team. The runners that are simply ignored and never motivated by any one but themselves. I was this runner and all I wanted to do was be varsity. 

A quote that helped me become the runner I am today is “Be so good they can’t ignore you” -Steve Martin this quote is on my wall in my bedroom to keep me motivated to do great things.
My sophomore season of track my goal was to run sub 5 in the mile. That year there where about 22 runners that did this on the team. I missed the goal by 10 seconds.

I wanted to be a better runner and help my team win championships. Over the summer I ran 300+ miles and I went from a runner that ran 25 minute 5k's to sub 18 by senior year. I was also able to to run 4:49 in the mile. 

Also throughout this process I learned I was more of a track runner than xc. But the point is no mater what there is always going to be someone that believes in you. It may be a 100 people it may be 10 it may be just one person and that is yourself. You have put in the work behind the curtain and show people that you can achieve great things. You’re gunna have people that say it’s impossible for you. You don’t have the foot speed or you don’t have the right body type for running. Words are just words until you let them mean something to you. 

The only people you need to make yourself great is yourself and anyone else that is there to support you.

Throughout these 4 years of running it has taught me a lot of life lessons. Taught me things that I would of never learned on my own with out running.

Cross country has brought me all of my friends and running will be in my life for a long time. The moment I stop having fun with it I’ll be done with it, and I am having the time of my life.

- Bryce Legois ( @bryce_legois13 )