No room for fear or doubt, 2025

Contributor: The Nerd

About 20 years ago I had a surge of motivation in early November and signed up for a mid-April marathon. I wasn’t anywhere near marathon shape when I signed up, but I figured that I’d be in amazing shape in five months. I wasn’t.

My training was limited by the time demands of a young family, my winter was filled with accounting deadlines and overtime hours, and subzero temps kept me indoors on too many days. The day before the race, I drove six hours to Oklahoma City with just a 16-mile long run in my running log and a supreme lack of confidence. Later that afternoon, I struggled to finish a three-mile jog. I looked at the race-time forecast at dinner and found even more bad news: 80-degree temps and 70% humidity.

That night, as I struggled to fall asleep in an unfamiliar bed, I watched the documentary, “Running the Sahara”, on my phone. It’s the kind of movie that only running nerds would love, and the title gives away the plot; three ultramarathoners decide to run over 4000 miles across the Sahara. I won’t ruin the ending, but one of the men deals with tremendous self-doubt. He manages it by repeating the mantra, “I have no room in my heart for fear or doubt.”

The line was just a snippet in the documentary but it was just what I needed for my marathon. The forecast was spot on and my fitness was as poor as expected. However, by repeating that mantra hundreds of times during the race, I finished in good form. Three weeks later, I ran a much better marathon with a 26-mile Oklahoma training run under my belt.

A select few Nebraska high school athletes will end their season this week at Omaha Burke. However, it may have ended at a JV meet or it may have ended at Districts. By my count, approximately 2,600 boys and girls qualified for the 2025 State T&F meet, and the NSAA reports that 15,700 boys and girls competed in HS track and field in 2024. That means that just 16% of athletes qualified for State.

Did the other 84% do it for nothing? Absolutely not. In fact, many parents would argue that the act of completing an entire season – or having the courage to even join the track team – was a life-changing event for their child. Newfound confidence, new friends, better health and hopefully a string of personal records. More importantly, most of these athletes have run farther and faster, or jumped or thrown further, than they ever imagined. Are they losers? Absolutely not. Every one of them is a winner.

It’s State week, and many of the teams and athletes competing at State are filled with anxiety. While a few nerves can be healthy, anxiety can be debilitating and detrimental to performance.

I have a few observations and some advice.

1. How well you perform this week or next will not change the arc of your life or athletic career. A great race doesn’t guarantee success, nor does a bad series of jumps predict future failures. I have a son who, for three consecutive years, ran his worst race of the season at State. He kept working at it, and eventually he found success.

2. I’ll post my semi-annual end-of-season article next week but here’s the gist: you’re a better human because you competed on the track team this season. You probably have a healthier lifestyle, hang out with people who support that lifestyle, and it’s likely your grades have improved.

3. You are not defined by your marks, your place or whether you qualified for State. I never came close to qualifying for State, and yet my high school career was wonderful. Track may be one of your greatest joys, but it is a small part of your life. Let it give you happiness, but do not let it drag you down.

4. When you compete, even if you compete poorly, you are a light to your loved ones. We love that you do this. We love that we get to cheer for you. We’ll mourn when you’re finally done competing. Let us be a part of your greatness.

Finally, set aside your nerves. Use my mantra – there is no room in my heart for fear or doubt – or use your own. For example, Samantha Rodewald of McCook shared with me years ago that her meet day mantra is Philippians 4:13: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

Track and field is joy expressed through motion. Be joyful. Leave no room in your heart for fear or doubt.

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Originally written for and posted in October 2021 at www.preprunningnerd.com by Jay Slagle.

Like this coverage of Nebraska high school distance running? There's more of this at www.preprunningnerd.com. Check out the Blog tab for our frequent stories, the Articles tab for long-form articles, the Results tab for every Nebraska high school race we could find this year, and the Rankings tab for team and individual rankings. If you want to see meet photos or just need to kill a few hours on social media, follow us on Twitter @PrepRunningNerd or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/preprunningnerd. Finally, if you thinking runners are the best thing on earth, you'll enjoy our article, "The Runner with the Broken Heart," from 2018. Since we wrote it, Noah Lambrecht has been a guest at the State of the Union address, won a national award for perseverance in sports, and been featured in Runners' World.