Execute and Compete

One of the sayings that my college track coach often said was, "You can't run better than your capable of, but you can run worse than your capable of." While those words weren't exactly what you wanted to hear immediately after a bad race, eventually they did help in putting a poor performance in perspective.  If you're fit, you can run beneath your fitness, though you obviously don't want to do that on race day.  I think this concept is important for both high school athletes running in their final meets of the season, as well as marathoners racing on their big day. Runners need to have a plan going into the race and execute that plan so that they compete to the best of their ability. For most athletes this means running conservatively early in the race, then speeding up late in the race (meaning, run a negative split race). And, of course, remembering in the late stages of the race to compete. 

Jay