Greg Picard’s Ten Commandments for Running and High School

By Senior Greg Picard

Here are ten rules that I think are good ones to live by as a competitive runner in high school.  No one ever told me these rules, I have had to figure out for myself, and I figured I might try to make the underclassmen’s lives easier by sharing them.

Senior Greg Picard

1.  Focus on running before you focus on form.  There are a lot of books and TV shows out there stressing good, “natural” form for running.  Some books even claim that this “natural” form causes running to be injury free.  I’m not saying that these books are wrong, but I am extremely skeptical.  I definitely ran with form greatly in mind junior year, and Nick ran with his form in mind senior year, and both of those seasons Nick and I got injured.  There are many factors that lead to injuries, but I think that Nick and I trying to adjust our form in ways that our body wasn’t accustomed to for years of running prior to the adjustment added to the problem.  The only thing Young suggests we do in summer training plans and in weekly workout sheets is to run, not run with a “natural” gait.  I think all runners should focus on speed and hitting the right mileage each week, and good form and healthy running will come naturally.

2.  Before your senior year, write out drafts for all the college essays that you need to submit.  College essays are not difficult.  They are 250-500 word essays where there is no truly “wrong” answer.  And yet I have never spent more time on any assignment than I have my college essays.  Almost everything I have done academically for these four years has been so that I can get into a college I want to go to.  Writing the essays and clicking “submit” are the culmination of all this hard work.  I have spent hours and hours revising and rewriting so that my essays can be perfect.  This is unavoidable, and my advice to underclassmen would be to write their essays during the summer so that they can get more sleep the weeks before their application deadlines.

3.  Don’t be afraid to be competitive with teammates.  The enemy at meets is of course not your own team, but the other teams along the start line.  But while racing, one should never have the mindset that it is O.K. for a teammate to pass you.  A runner needs to simplify their priorities during a race: passing is good, getting passed is bad, no matter who it is.  Also, two B-CC runners finishing together in front of an opposing team is much better than one B-CC runner.  I’ve had my best season ever for cross-country this year partly because I refuse to let my teammate Matt Boden go during races.  The friendly competition Matt and I have with each other helps us both to pass other runners as the race drags on.  And in the end, even though Matt was my adversary on the course, the ultimate enemies defeated are the runners from opposing teams.

4. If you are capable, enroll in the full-IB program junior year.  There are many reasons people don’t become full IB students, such as an extremely strong desire to take AP Physics or a natural inability to handle the course load.  And if you are a student who is in a situation such as this please ignore this commandment, and do not feel at all bad about not following it.  I am a full-IB student, and I have found that the program is an exciting, well-rounded way to learn.  We at B-CC are blessed to have the program available to us, especially considering how much being a part of the program can help students with college admissions.  61.3% of IB diploma candidates applying to UVA are accepted verses an overall acceptance rate of 39%.  I encourage all students to not be afraid of the vigor of the IB program and to take advantage of the great opportunity B-CC students have to enroll in it.

5.  Don’t ever get negative before a race. I’ve heard many people complain before races about how hard the course is, and how badly they are going to do.  And almost all of the kids I hear that complain like this are going to do as bad as they predict.  Keeping a positive mind frame is crucial to a good race, so that your mind is better prepared for the pain that hits you after about a mile and a half in a race. 

6.  Don’t get over stressed about quarter grades.  Most of the students in my classes are extremely stressed out about the grades they get each quarter.  But semester grades are a combination of two quarters and an exam.  If you get a B for a class on the final quarter grade it is not the end of the world, and you will have the opportunity to receive the same semester grade as someone who’s gotten an A on both quarters and the exam.  My sister doesn’t recall attending more than two straight-A breakfasts.  Now she is a majoring in Physics at Yale University.  Quarter grades are not worth becoming unhealthily stressed out about.

7.  Don’t be afraid to work out with someone faster than you.  My PR as a freshman was 21:30.  Next year I trained hard over the summer, and every workout at practice I made myself workout with the varsity team.  I don’t think I could be the runner that I am today if I did not push myself that sophomore season.  Telling myself I could do it was the first step, and the rest followed.  That season I dropped my time down to 18:36.

8.  Make an effort to create new friendships.  People change in high school.  Sometimes the changes are rapid, sometimes they are slow and somewhat unnoticeable, but with these changes could be a change in taste regarding with who you want to be around.  My friends today are different from the friends I had in middle school, and that is because I didn’t settle into a clique and refuse to associate with anyone outside the clique.  I know many of people this year who are bitter with their friends, but feel as if it is too late to make new ones, because creating a lasting friendship takes time.  That is why I think everyone should always to be open to friendly advances from peers, and not be afraid to make them themselves, no matter what.

9.  Enjoy running.  My last running advice is simple, and that is to enjoy the sport that we do.  Most runners I know have this attitude of “I hate it but I have to do it,” and I never quite understood that.  We wouldn’t come back every season if we didn’t love the sport, it is just that the extreme difficulty of it makes us forget our love for running.  Try to enjoy that difficulty.  Be competitive but do not let your competitiveness take away from how much you enjoy the sport.  Because you will soon find yourself a senior like myself, wishing you could hold on to every last second you have with your team, wishing that you had more time with everyone.  Don’t wish your time as a B-CC runner away, because every second of it is precious.

10.  Enjoy your classes.  My last school advice is also simple, and that is to enjoy your time in high school.  Most B-CC students don’t appreciate how blessed they are to be able to take the classes that we do, because with these high quality classes comes great amounts of hard work and stress.  But our school has some of the best classes, and the best teachers in the country, and we are the lucky few blessed with the opportunity to enroll in this school for free.  Take a moment to appreciate what you are doing while you are doing homework, and think about the value of all that you’re learning.  Don’t get too caught up with trying to get an A that you don’t see how lucky you are to be able to take such great classes in the first place. 

I would like to thank my coaches Chad Young, Emily Young, Nathan Herchenroeder, and Alex Gray for helping me learn these lessons.  The experiences I have had on this team are without a doubt the most valuable to me during these four years, and I cannot thank the coaches enough for this.