The only thing stopping you is…

When I was a freshman in high school the varsity track coach saw me run my first 100-yard dash.

I was wearing new track shoes with half-inch spikes for the first time.

It didn’t occur to me I should wear the new shoes in practice to get used to them.

My old track shoes were Chuck Taylor high-top Converse sneakers.

The gun goes off and I took one step…

…and I fell flat on my face.

My knees and elbows were full of cinders from the track (we didn’t have artificial tracks in the old days).

I jumped up and started running.

I was way behind the pack at this point, but I kept running anyway.

As I crossed the finish line, I was 5 yards ahead of the pack and finished first.

The varsity coach congratulated me and said something I remember to this day.

“The only thing stopping you from being state champ is your mindset”

I was shocked to hear how much confidence he had in me after only one race.

He believed I could be state champ.

Did I believe I could be state champ?

Not when he first told me.