My wife was a high school and college athlete, and she was good. She still runs several miles a day and actually enjoys it! Now my seven year old daughter is running cross country and recently ran a 3 mile Turkey Trot with her mother. We were surprised at her disappointment at not winning this 3 mile run. After all, there were adults, teenagers and other children running, all at various levels of fitness and skill. Did she really expect to win? Yes, of course she did.
As Stacey and I discussed this event, she shared with me a coaching strategy she experienced as a high school track runner. She was the fastest 400 runner on the team. In fact we believe she still holds her school record. She was not, however, the fastest 800 runner on the team. Nevertheless, her coach made her run the event and not to win. Her coach made her run the event to get 3rd place. You see track is a team sport. Each runner earns points based on their performance and at the end of the meet all the individual po
