Be Inspired
“I feel growing up as a child, I didn’t choose running, rather it choose me… Running as a young child was a stress reliever. I grew up with a strong mother who was the only female presence in the family as there was my father and us boys so she was our rock, but even as strong-minded as she was, she dealt with depression. She came to the states as a young girl with no money but this concept of the “American Dream”. She was born in New Delhi and came from a rough area absorbed with crime so as a young child she was ridden with fear and trauma. She had lost two of her brothers, one was gunned down a day before he became a doctor and one died of a car accident. She had a close relationship with her father, but was unable to see him since she had moved to the States and he sadly passed away, almost 20 years without being able to [em]brace him. That’s all she ever wanted to do but couldn’t and once he passed away I noticed her depression would get worse and worse. And days when I could see her being depressed and she would try to hide it from us, I could still see it. Days like this I had to put on my running shoes and just run…
That’s why my roommates and those that know me know my golden rule which is the 3 M’s and the 3rd M being the most important.
1.) Make that money
2.) Run them miles, and
3.) Make Momma Proud.
My father taught me work ethic. Growing up as a child, my father would work 12-16 hours days, making sure we had food on our plates, clothes on our back, and showed if you ever wanted something in life you had to go work for it, you have to earn it, you have to put in the time. My dad didn’t get to attend most of my races because he was always working, but he always made sure I played sports, had running shoes, shorts, tees, was training, and taught me discipline and for that I’m always grateful for him…. I’ve always had this self-belief that I can be a great runner, with the values my parents taught me, even as a minority and American Indian that represents a small pool, if my parents could endure and do what they did, I can do anything, no matter my size, color, looks, etc. What keeps me going and never doubting myself is my mom. If she could overcome what she has, I can get the miles in and push myself. When I’m tired at 5 am and don’t feel like running, I think of the times my dad woke up at 4 Am to work and wasn’t back til 8 PM. The name of the game is sacrifice and my parents made them and that’s what drives me and gets me out of my bed in a jolt.
– Swarnjit Boyal, a member of the Hoka ONE ONE Aggies, sharing part of his inspiring life story with LetsRun.com. Boyal went from being a guy who was cut two-times in college, to being a 3-time conference champion and now to an Olympic Trials qualifier.
This month, LetsRun is partnering with HOKA to profile their athletes at the US Olympic Marathon Trials – from the contenders to the dreamers to the mountain men and women.
“I feel growing up as a child, I didn’t choose running, rather it choose me… Running as a young child was a stress reliever. I grew up with a strong mother who was the only female presence in the family as there was my father and us boys so she was our rock, but even as strong-minded as she was, she dealt with depression. She came to the states as a young girl with no money but this concept of the “American Dream”. She was born in New Delhi and came from a rough area absorbed with crime so as a young child she was ridden with fear and trauma. She had lost two of her brothers, one was gunned down a day before he became a doctor and one died of a car accident. She had a close relationship with her father, but was unable to see him since she had moved to the States and he sadly passed away, almost 20 years without being able to [em]brace him. That’s all she ever wanted to do but couldn’t and once he passed away I noticed her depression would get worse and worse. And days when I could see her being depressed and she would try to hide it from us, I could still see it. Days like this I had to put on my running shoes and just run…
That’s why my roommates and those that know me know my golden rule which is the 3 M’s and the 3rd M being the most important.
1.) Make that money
2.) Run them miles, and
3.) Make Momma Proud.
My father taught me work ethic. Growing up as a child, my father would work 12-16 hours days, making sure we had food on our plates, clothes on our back, and showed if you ever wanted something in life you had to go work for it, you have to earn it, you have to put in the time. My dad didn’t get to attend most of my races because he was always working, but he always made sure I played sports, had running shoes, shorts, tees, was training, and taught me discipline and for that I’m always grateful for him…. I’ve always had this self-belief that I can be a great runner, with the values my parents taught me, even as a minority and American Indian that represents a small pool, if my parents could endure and do what they did, I can do anything, no matter my size, color, looks, etc. What keeps me going and never doubting myself is my mom. If she could overcome what she has, I can get the miles in and push myself. When I’m tired at 5 am and don’t feel like running, I think of the times my dad woke up at 4 Am to work and wasn’t back til 8 PM. The name of the game is sacrifice and my parents made them and that’s what drives me and gets me out of my bed in a jolt.
– Swarnjit Boyal, a member of the Hoka ONE ONE Aggies, sharing part of his inspiring life story with LetsRun.com. Boyal went from being a guy who was cut two-times in college, to being a 3-time conference champion and now to an Olympic Trials qualifier.
This month, LetsRun is partnering with HOKA to profile their athletes at the US Olympic Marathon Trials – from the contenders to the dreamers to the mountain men and women.
2019 xc season
"IT'S AN HONOR TO HAVE BEEN MENTIONED"
Gas Gas Gas Gas Gas Gas
"Kick Like its christmas"
CA Mile Split Article by former Corona coach Mark Gardner
Despite sitting out their top six runners and saving them for next weekend's State Meet, Great Oak still rolled to fifth consecutive divisional title! As predicted the day in our preview, John Worthy and Leandro Candray finished in the top 10 individually to lead the cause! Upland senior Jeremiah Castellano left a tight race late and crossed the line first in 14:48.40. Castellano, whose junior year was lost to injury after just one race, is the first Upland boys champion in 40 years. Redondo Union sophomore Christoph Waligorski was second in 14:55.70.
While Dylan Wilbur-led Crescenta Valley continued to rise and earned the runner-up plaque, perhaps, the biggest surprise of the day came from the men of Roosevelt. Another squad that has endured some adversity this past month, Ricardo Sainz raced for the first time in five weeks and provided the support needed to complement Raul Chavez (third in 14:56.9) up front with a third place finish. Some rankings had them as low as 10th coming into the postseason!
Burbank and Long Beach Poly matched our projections in advancing onward while La Serna qualified for its first trip to the State Championships. Another pleasant surprise was Vista Murrieta. The Broncos utilized their best effort of the season to hold off Riverside King's 17-second scoring spread.
Despite sitting out their top six runners and saving them for next weekend's State Meet, Great Oak still rolled to fifth consecutive divisional title! As predicted the day in our preview, John Worthy and Leandro Candray finished in the top 10 individually to lead the cause! Upland senior Jeremiah Castellano left a tight race late and crossed the line first in 14:48.40. Castellano, whose junior year was lost to injury after just one race, is the first Upland boys champion in 40 years. Redondo Union sophomore Christoph Waligorski was second in 14:55.70.
While Dylan Wilbur-led Crescenta Valley continued to rise and earned the runner-up plaque, perhaps, the biggest surprise of the day came from the men of Roosevelt. Another squad that has endured some adversity this past month, Ricardo Sainz raced for the first time in five weeks and provided the support needed to complement Raul Chavez (third in 14:56.9) up front with a third place finish. Some rankings had them as low as 10th coming into the postseason!
Burbank and Long Beach Poly matched our projections in advancing onward while La Serna qualified for its first trip to the State Championships. Another pleasant surprise was Vista Murrieta. The Broncos utilized their best effort of the season to hold off Riverside King's 17-second scoring spread.
Inland Empire Challenge take-aways
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SOPHOMORE BOYS
Daniel LeGeer finished in 12:37 at the Riverside Showcase. Landen Breckner finished in 11:38. At IE, about 5 weeks later, Daniel LeGeer (26th last year as a 9th grader) finished in 5th overall in a 3 mile time of 17:08 on a tough course. Today, LeGeer finished six seconds behind Breckner. LeGeer is confident, and could be a bubble candidate to race varsity at some point in time later in the season. It would be interesting to see the splits on Ryan Bunch as well, as with a mile to go, he was in like 20th place or so, and finished in 8th overall. Another standout performance came from Manny Unzueta, who was in a boot (or was supposed to be in a boot) over summer, and didn't start training until a few weeks back. Sub 18 minutes on a tough course, anything could happen with consistency for this kid. |
Sophomore Girls
Hannah Wrathall and J-Mart helped lead this girls squad without Jenna Lacuata. We placed five girls in the top 11, and barely lost, as Santiago had a few lower pegs and made up for a 5th who finished in 19th place. |
26th annual
Sunny Hills/ Wayne Walker Invitational 2019
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Some Quick take-aways from this past weekend. It was a good showing for the Mustangs as a program, as we took home too much hardware, that Coach Cummings was unable to ride his bike to school this morning, his backpack was too heavy.
At the end of the day, this meet means nothing. We're getting ready for League and November where the REAL racing is set to take place. We had a significant number of athletes who could have helped score for their squad, but were unable to race for whatever reason that day. Other athletes had poor performances, but don't dwell, as it is unhealthy to live in the past. You can't control the past, but you can learn from it. It's not every day that you win a race, but we had two athletes take home the "W", and that was sophomore Andres Chavez, and senior Tony the Train Chavez. Tony's sub 15 performance also landed him as #3 all-time on the course record list. Pretty good stuff. Athletes of the Meet: Mia Rocha-Betnancourt for her SMART race. Mia went out comfortably, and picked people off one by one and led her team to a 4th place overall in the race and a team win/2nd place performance. Zack Lang had a FANTASTIC race. He had a few up and down performances in previous meets, but a patient approach worked for him in this meet. He picked off a few runners after the first mile and held on to run a personal best on a tough course. The entire 9th grade boys squad. The future looks bright. Sub 18 9th graders tend to become varsity athletes their 10th grade years. Plenty of sub 18 runners as 9th graders go on to run low 15's or sub 15 by their senior year. The future is bright! |
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It should come as no surprise to our boys squad who earned the Athlete of the Meet. It is very much a surprise to the rest of the league, Great Oak, and Silly Jeff George though....
Athlete of the Meet: Andrew Gonzales (12) Some quick takeaways: Andrew carries modest PRs of 2:08/4:43/10:25, but he has already beaten athletes who have run in the 9:30s and 9:40s for the 3200m, as well as athletes who have run 1:58 and 4:21 on the track. Andrew has had his fair share of ups and downs, including breaking his toe, and getting sick at the wrong time during seasons. He's much better than his track times, and he's in for a hell of a senior season campaign. Andrew ran a very smart and patient race while nursing a slight injury. Initially, we weren't going to race him, but he persuaded us and it was a great day for Roosevelt. Prior to this race, Andrew's best finish in a league xc meet was 24th place at last years's league finals, where he PR'd and ran 15:55. I'm friends with a few collegiate coaches, and about a week before this race, I told my friend confidently that we would be putting four runners in front of King's #1 man. I did not expect to put five athletes in front of their number #1 man, but that's exactly what happened. |
There Can Only Be One
By Coach Cummings
Athlete of the Meet: Landen Breckner (10)
Forward-
Talk about tough. I once saw Landen Breckner bleeding at the gums on one of the last nights in camp. The dude ran 13 miles the next morning, and got picked up, only to have a two hour oral surgery where the dentist detached his tooth from the braces, removed it completely, cleaned it up, and then reattached it to both his gums and his braces. He was back at practice the very next day. That's the story I heard and will repeat until the end of my coaching days. Although Breckner has told me repeatedly, that in fact, the tooth was not removed, but that he had had a root canal to repair it....I paused, and realized it was clear to me that Breckner had know idea what had happened when his mouth was open it that dentist's chair. For all I knew, they had taken his whole tooth out and fixed the root, and then re-attached it to the braces and plopped it back in the gums. Maybe my version is true, maybe it isn't. Doesn't change the point of the story, the kid to the left is real tough and will be important to the varsity squad this year.
2018- Breckner finished in 18th place, 12:36 as a 9th grader, helping the team win with a 4th man spot. Breckner outlasted three of Brea's athletes last year to help us take home the F/S title with a score of 73-77. The three Brea athletes were all within seven seconds of Breckner.
2019- Breckner, fresh off 2:10, 4:46, and 10:28 performances in the spring, had clearly trained like a varsity athlete over the summer. 1st place, 11:38 as a 10th grader.
The Race-
Breckner ran a the smartest race possible, as he patiently put himself in the back of the front pack. At the half way point, there was a single runner a few seconds ahead of the chase pack of four athletes where Breckner lurked as he sat on the pack. On the back stretch, it became a three man race, and not once, did I see Breckner take the lead.
Maybe he did, maybe he didn't, but with about 400m to go, one Valley View 10th grader opened up a gap on Breckner, but he was ready to seize his first of many moments. Close behind, Breckner emerged, poised to take his first XC victory. Out of 174 athletes, Breckner beat them all, including the 2nd place athlete by nearly four seconds.
Overview-
Breckner is making the case as one of the best sophomores on the team. He joins and forms a formidable 1-2 punch with fellow sophomore standout Andres Chavez who is patiently waiting to open his season. Breckner ran 58 seconds faster than last year, and helped lead the team to a repeat and blowout victory as the Mustangs beat Valley View 43-79. The Mustangs put SIX F/S runners in the top 13 positions, as five runners packed up to take spots 9-13 in the race. That pack included two ninth grade athletes, who finished as our 3rd and 5th men respectively.
Takeaway-
Those two ninth graders both ran faster than Brecker did when he was a freshman. Commitment and consistent hard work shows results. Breckner's leadership will be needed these next three years. Be like Breckner.
By Coach Cummings
Athlete of the Meet: Landen Breckner (10)
Forward-
Talk about tough. I once saw Landen Breckner bleeding at the gums on one of the last nights in camp. The dude ran 13 miles the next morning, and got picked up, only to have a two hour oral surgery where the dentist detached his tooth from the braces, removed it completely, cleaned it up, and then reattached it to both his gums and his braces. He was back at practice the very next day. That's the story I heard and will repeat until the end of my coaching days. Although Breckner has told me repeatedly, that in fact, the tooth was not removed, but that he had had a root canal to repair it....I paused, and realized it was clear to me that Breckner had know idea what had happened when his mouth was open it that dentist's chair. For all I knew, they had taken his whole tooth out and fixed the root, and then re-attached it to the braces and plopped it back in the gums. Maybe my version is true, maybe it isn't. Doesn't change the point of the story, the kid to the left is real tough and will be important to the varsity squad this year.
2018- Breckner finished in 18th place, 12:36 as a 9th grader, helping the team win with a 4th man spot. Breckner outlasted three of Brea's athletes last year to help us take home the F/S title with a score of 73-77. The three Brea athletes were all within seven seconds of Breckner.
2019- Breckner, fresh off 2:10, 4:46, and 10:28 performances in the spring, had clearly trained like a varsity athlete over the summer. 1st place, 11:38 as a 10th grader.
The Race-
Breckner ran a the smartest race possible, as he patiently put himself in the back of the front pack. At the half way point, there was a single runner a few seconds ahead of the chase pack of four athletes where Breckner lurked as he sat on the pack. On the back stretch, it became a three man race, and not once, did I see Breckner take the lead.
Maybe he did, maybe he didn't, but with about 400m to go, one Valley View 10th grader opened up a gap on Breckner, but he was ready to seize his first of many moments. Close behind, Breckner emerged, poised to take his first XC victory. Out of 174 athletes, Breckner beat them all, including the 2nd place athlete by nearly four seconds.
Overview-
Breckner is making the case as one of the best sophomores on the team. He joins and forms a formidable 1-2 punch with fellow sophomore standout Andres Chavez who is patiently waiting to open his season. Breckner ran 58 seconds faster than last year, and helped lead the team to a repeat and blowout victory as the Mustangs beat Valley View 43-79. The Mustangs put SIX F/S runners in the top 13 positions, as five runners packed up to take spots 9-13 in the race. That pack included two ninth grade athletes, who finished as our 3rd and 5th men respectively.
Takeaway-
Those two ninth graders both ran faster than Brecker did when he was a freshman. Commitment and consistent hard work shows results. Breckner's leadership will be needed these next three years. Be like Breckner.
“It’s not how much training you DO, rather, it’s how well you recover from the training you DO DO. Because, if you get injured or sick from DOing too much, you are in deep DOO DOO. The Do-Do Rule covers a multitude of sins for the runner and has never been proven wrong.”
– The training philosophy of the late Dr. Dave Martin according to 1996 US Olympian Keith Brantly, whom Martin coached. The quote comes from a piece on Martin by Jeff Benjamin.
– The training philosophy of the late Dr. Dave Martin according to 1996 US Olympian Keith Brantly, whom Martin coached. The quote comes from a piece on Martin by Jeff Benjamin.
2017 xc season
NXN
BIG VIII LEAGUE MEET # 3
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First League Meet to the Last League Meet
T. Spencer 16:28 --> 15:08 --> 14:36 Ornelas 16:28 --> 15:29 --> 14:57 Chavez 16:29 --> 15:35 --> 15:02 Sahagun 16:30 --> 15:54 --> 15:21 Lieberman M. 16:49 --> 16:32 --> 15:57 Rendon 16:51--> DNR Lopez 16:59 --> 16:46 --> 16:11 Sainz 16:51 --> 16:33 --> 15:58 Lieberman A. 17:17 --> 16:36 --> 16:01 Zheng 17:55 --> 17:28 --> 16:51 Lang 17:58 --> 18:11 --> Alvarez 18:04 --> 17:04 --> 16:28 Sule DNF --> 17:39 --> 17:02 Sloot 18:27 --> 18:43 --> Rios 18:27 --> 17:14 --> 16:38 Potts 18:53 --> DNR Martinez 18:59 --> 18:32 --> Hernandez 19:01 --> 18:30 --> Shifflet 19:05 --> 18:06 --> 17:28 Duran 19:22--> 17:52 --> 17:15 Razcon 19:29 --> 19:09 --> Gonzales J 19:36 -->18:47 --> Gonzales A 20:01 --> 18:28 --> Sapino 20:04 --> 19:19 --> Graf 20:18 --> 19:39 --> Miller 20:35 --> 19:15 --> Woods 21:58 --> 18:45 --> 18:06 Camorlinga 22:36 --> DNR Leon 22:54 --> DNR Morales --> DNR Leong DNR --> 21:00 --> Castillo DNR --> 21:25 --> |
First League Meet to the Last League Meet
Barron 19:11 --> 18:59 Pena 19:28 --> 19:48 Rippe 20:00 --> 19:37 Hernandez 21:01 --> 22:10 Walker 21:11 --> 21:44 Camargo 21:33 --> 20:16 Dinco 22:03 --> 20:32 Ibarra DNR --> 21:04 Salcedo 21:04--> 21:29 Camacho 21:08--> 21:08 Rocha-Betancourt 22:55--> 22:46 Muro 25:13 --> 24:50 Joelle 23:37 Mor 28:11 --> 26:41 Conversion Calculator
http://www.milesplit.com/calc |
Riverside Invitational
Inland Empire
Portland 9/30/17
Big VIII League Meet #1; 9/20/17
Varsity guys. Good job. Again, no gloating. No waving. No smiling. Just show up, do business as usual, and get a cool down in. We have bigger fish to fry this year than league finals. Enjoy the tempo runs as a unit, and be respectful opponents.
Nice win Sainz. Sainz was patient and slowly moved up to take the lead from Lopez who might have gone out a little too hard. Comparing 2 mile times, Lopez at 10:00 and Sainz at 10:06, it was going to be a good race regardless. Work together next time throughout the race. Both of you are in the mix as potential 5-6-7-8 guys for us. You matter. The 8th man pushes the 7th man who puts pressure on the 6th man who hangs on to dear life to the most important man. 5th man needs to close the gap between himself and the 4th man if we have a chance at winning CIF or State. Keep mentally preparing yourself for the end of November. Lang and Zheng ran great races as they kept moving past people, eventually finishing in the top 10 in their races. Zheng finished in 18th place last year at JV League Finals, and after the first league meet, you're already in the top 10 and you have a stud freshman on your heels. Focusing on next year and the year after, we need you two to continue to put pressure on the juniors and each other, as we will need guys to fill in the 4-5-6-7 spots behind Chavez/Sahagun/Sainz. |
Thoughts on the day...
Varsity girls beat KING by 1 point. KING is ranked 8th in CIF-SS. We beat the #8 ranked team by 1 point. And yet, the day after, we are still not ranked and they are. (Low-peg, 4 woman team) We're under the radar still. Pena ran a VERY smart race, moving up from 20th or 25th place all the way to 4th place in the race to finish 17 seconds behind Paloma. Why does it matter? Kimberly was unable to train over summer, and for her to be this close to Paloma after 5-6 weeks of training is excellent. Gaby Salcedo ran a great time in the JV race and would have been our 5th woman in the varsity race. She has really put the work in over summer and it's paying off. Keep pushing yourself in workouts, and as other girls start to go by you, GO WITH THEM. You can't have a good race every single time, we need depth and in the event that someone else doesn't perform their best, you are needed. Great job! Camacho has a kick and she showed she had some fight. She kicked down 2-3 girls the last half mile and stole their soul, as she put 6, 7 and 20 seconds respectively on her opponents. Stay healthy and as you start passing your teammates, encourage them to go with you. Consistency and good habits will go a long way for you. Good job. Arevalo (Snapchat) had her own struggles throughout the race. I imagine you would have run much faster than 28:49 had you not stopped, walked, etc. This time is in the past. Focus on DEMOLISHING this time at League Finals in November. Baby Steps. Glad you finished. |
Mt Carmel Invitational 9/16/17
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Thoughts on the day...
had Michael and Tony raced, it would have been a much closer team battle up front. As a result, we still made the front page of the results as a boys squad, finishing 7th overall out of 91 programs. On the girls side, we made page two of the results as a squad, finishing 14th out of 76 programs. Page 1 Takeaways 1st column results Tyler Spencer 2nd Raymon Ornelas 4th Loyola 7, 16, 18, 22, 30 2nd column results Moises Rendon 43rd- Our "fifth man" is Loyola's 12th, today. Loyola 36, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 45, 48 6th man- Lieberman 112 Biggest takeaway, we're not as deep as we think. Loyola is scary deep, but if we put on the performance that we need to, when it matters most, we can beat them. Think Thanksgiving. We're putting in some quality work on our own turf, and 5:30 am practices are making us tougher. Think of the sacrifice that you're putting in. We're a good team because we have two consistently low pegs. We need guys to consistently perform and mentally peak themselves for an all-out performance at the state meet. Consistently showcasing our strength at certain meets (Portland, I.E., League Finals, and CIF Finals) is going to be important in the event that we want to be considered for an at-large NXN spot. Mt. Carmel Invitational- Coach Cummings
Blake Harris- Tucker Woods Comparison- Goals and Improvement
22:37 Tucker Woods
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Riverside showcase 9/2/17
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Kick of the week:
Jerrick Sapino has got some wheels! Learn to pace yourself better. Don't save all that energy for the finish. "It's better to be a fading 3rd place than a charging 10th" Boys: The importance of the 5th man: JV 2nd place 50th place, F/S 2nd place 47th place Raymon won his race. Tony/Michael/Ricardo went 1-2-3 in their race. Girls: F/S Girls are Champions! 5th woman 34th place! Rippe won her race. Paloma finished 5th place in the varsity race. |
ncaa
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Goals |
the importance of Recovery days
“I still think the premise of you have to still listen to your body and allow it to recover is still really important. And so in the past, in order for me to really hit my strides days really fast and hit my workouts quality, it was important for me to make sure my easy days were easy. They were really just getting the blood flowing. If I ran 70 minutes at like a 7:00 pace, no problem. … So ideally, you could run 5:50 pace but if you’re not feeling easy doing that, then that’s not recovering. You still need to be able to focus on the days that matter. You’ve got to pick and choose your battles …”
– Nick Willis giving some free coaching advice about keeping your easy days easy to make sure you recover for the hard ones.
– Nick Willis giving some free coaching advice about keeping your easy days easy to make sure you recover for the hard ones.
ncaa results
The Week that was
pre-race nerves
Discomfort is your best friend.
Take more risks just for the hell of it.
I don't mean bungee jumping or robbing a liquor store. I mean talking to people you don't know, or calling customer service to ask for refund on a disappointing product, approaching someone you think is cute to start a conversation, or take a class in something you love but know little about. In all these situations there's the chance you will be shut down or even publicly embarrassed. But you will get used to small disappointments and it will embolden you to take bigger risks in the future. Plus, you will be surprised how often things actually work out for the better. Going into a situation thinking you're doing just for the experience takes a lot of the pressure off, too, and helps get positive results.
I don't mean bungee jumping or robbing a liquor store. I mean talking to people you don't know, or calling customer service to ask for refund on a disappointing product, approaching someone you think is cute to start a conversation, or take a class in something you love but know little about. In all these situations there's the chance you will be shut down or even publicly embarrassed. But you will get used to small disappointments and it will embolden you to take bigger risks in the future. Plus, you will be surprised how often things actually work out for the better. Going into a situation thinking you're doing just for the experience takes a lot of the pressure off, too, and helps get positive results.