Daniel Herrera — Race Reflections of a Miler: BAA 1 Mile

Daniel (right, in backwards hat) placed 3rd at the 2018 BAA 1 Mile. Photo (runnerspace.com)

The following post was penned by High Peformance West Elite athlete Daniel Herrera, the Mexican record holder in the 1 Mile outdoors (3:56.13), hours after his 3rd place performance at the 2018 BAA 1 Mile Road Race.

Enjoy! // jm

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As a human being, I most often seek and choose the easy path. The safe one, as is my default, is to minimize the discomfort and hope to maximize the reward.

In high performance racing, the safe path hardly ever gets the win. 

In my case, this route got me 3rd place at the Boston Athletic Association Road Mile. Against a worthy field, I'm thankful I finished that high, as my result could have easily been far lower.

I hesitated on the backstretch of the final loop. I waited. And then waited some more. I kept waiting until it was safe, safer, safest. In my lapse, I forfeited an opportunity to win. My hope that I could maximize the safe path robbed me of any hope of victory.

Each race I learn something. Today reinforced the need to fight the urge to shy away from being bold and carefree in favor of hesitant and safe. 

Extraordinary things, such as winning, do not come from safe choices. 

Now my hope is the lessons learned on the streets of Boston will help me grow and come better prepared for the next starting line.

¡Viva el sombrero! — Daniel H.