Calm Under Pressure

The ORXC girls getting hyped up before our last race.

Pressure changes everything.

Every runner knows that feeling at the starting line, the nerves, the doubts, the weight of expectations. Some athletes rise to the moment. Others freeze. What makes the difference?

Part of the answer is talent. Some runners are naturally fast. But talent alone isn’t enough. What really separates great runners from good ones is the work they put in long before race day.

We’re fortunate to have the top-ranked runner in the state on our team. If you’ve ever watched her race, you notice right away how calm she looks. She runs with control, with confidence, and with belief. Sure, she’s incredibly talented, but she also works incredibly hard at practice. That effort is what allows her to step on the line and look relaxed when the pressure is highest.

If you’ve trained with focus and pushed yourself to be uncomfortable in practice, you’ll believe you can do the same when it matters most. If you’ve cut corners or settled for “good enough,” the pressure of race day will expose that, too.

Over the last few weeks, we’ve asked for more in practice. Harder efforts. Sharper focus. Greater consistency. It hasn’t been easy, but there was a subtle change at our last meet. In that race, we looked strong and under control. We’re learning that belief doesn’t magically appear on race day. It’s built in practice, brick by brick, rep by rep.

The next step is learning how to carry that belief into competition, to translate the work from practice into confidence on the course. That’s not easy. The stakes feel higher. The pressure is real. But the more we practice working hard, the more we’ll trust ourselves when the pressure comes.

So here’s the challenge: treat every practice like it matters, because it does. Build belief in the small choices, the daily effort, the willingness to go one step further. Then, when the pressure of race day comes, you won’t have to fake confidence; you’ll know it’s already there.