Sara Hall: Patience
(Elite Athlete Blog - Entry #3)
Posted February 22nd, 2008 at 2:12 PM by Sara Hall
Section: News & Results, Track & Field, Elite Athlete Blogs, Sara Hall
Welcome to the official blog of U.S. middle-distance runner Sara Hall. Sara’s list of running accolades include being a former NCAA All- American at Stanford, the 2006 USA 5K road champion, 5th place finisher in the 1500m at the 2007 USA Track & Field Championships and the 2006 champion at the Continental Airlines Fifth Avenue Mile. Check back every other Friday for her latest entry!
When Ryan and I were first dating during our Freshman year at Stanford, he used to jokingly call me “Sara Patience Bei”. Patience is far from my middle name. It first became apparent in the speed at which we both walked. Freshmen weren’t allowed to have cars at Stanford, so we walked everywhere. Ryan would always whine that I was walking too fast. But the way, he dragged his feet even if we were late. That would make me wonder how somehow who is so fast can walk so slow! The difference in how Ryan and I handle traffic, lines, to-do lists, and overall pace of life is incredible!
Okay, so I’m not the most patient person. In some ways, that is a good thing. In my running career, it has caused me to strive to be the best at whatever level I am competing rather than be satisfied with where I am at due to youth or inexperience. I’m not patient enough to have the perspective, “well, I’m only a freshman, so it’s okay that I placed 12th at NCAAs.” I am already thinking how I can win next time. Impatience helped me when I had my only prolonged injury during my senior year of college. It motivated me to train hard in spinning classes (which were so painful!) because I still wanted to compete that indoor season and didn’t want to wait to race until the outdoor season began. As a result, I still got to run the 3k anchor our DMR at Nationals, and then go on to PR in every event I ran outdoors.
However, there are times where my impatience is a detriment to me. Often times, it affects my races when I go after the win and get in over my head instead of running a smart, patient race. This is because often times, I would rather stick my nose in a race and try to win it and bonk than PR and get 6th. However, as a result, I always end a season wondering how fast I could have run if I had run a smart, conservative race. It also causes me frustration when I hit rough patches in training, like early last Spring, when I felt run down all the time. Terrence kept telling me to “be patient” and that I’d come around, which I did, but it didn’t help at the time. I wanted to feel good right then!
I believe the key to longevity in our sport is finding the balance between the two. Certainly, you need to be impatient enough to not settle for mediocrity and always strive to improve. Tomorrow is not promised to any of us, and we should do the best to accomplish our goals today. However, at the same time, if you are so impatient that you don’t enjoy the process, then running becomes burdensome. As much as I want to achieve certain things in my career, I also don’t want to look back and wish I’d enjoyed the journey more. Often times Ryan and I laugh in hindsight at how stressed we were in a situation, if only we knew the end result. For example, Ryan’s was super impatient and stressed during some rough months in his build up to the Olympic Trials. In hindsight it seems so silly.
God is definitely using my running career to work patience into me, little by little. This year I have been better at not forcing the training, taking my rest days as easy as they need to be, and not stressing out about early mediocre races, knowing there are a lot more months ahead in the season. I have endured another close 2nd place finish (at Millrose) telling myself to be patient, my time will come. And though I feel far from being described as “Sara Patience Bei” (or Hall now, I guess!) I hope that with each year I will come closer to that balance of anticipating and hungering for success in a patient way!
Stay tuned for Sara’s next entry on Friday, March 7th!
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Photograph: Courtesy of NYRR
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The Final Sprint
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, PATIENCE, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” GALATIONS 5:22-24
February 28th, 2008 at 3:02 pmSara,
What a beautiful blog! We saw your races at Millrose and Nationals. We felt for you with that close 2nd and then just missing qualifying for Worlds. Yet, we know you remain confident the Lord and Terrence are preparing you to do your best at the Olympic Trials. God Bless. PHILIPPIANS 1:6 Scott & Roberta
Way to go Sara you have done so well..it takes a lot to be a great runner and patience is one of them a long with hard training that equal long hours.My myself I am a runner as well and I know this is such a great blessing,I run for chairty thats all that I do and I do a pretty fair long distance for all my chairty events.Keep up the great job you do you have done so well and I am proud of you.
March 1st, 2008 at 1:35 pm