Instead of opting to nervous habits, many runners have pre-race rituals. Rituals often are a crucial part of a runner’s performance. Missing just one part of their regular routine can throw their whole mental space off and greatly impact their race. 

Every runner has a different ritual that either has great meaning or is just something they have always done without really knowing why. Whether the runner knows the significance behind their ritual or not, it is something that most runners have. 

“The night before, I try to have the same meal which is chicken and rice and I always have a Gatorade,” junior runner Kinley Cooley said. “I get out a piece of paper and a pencil and I’ll write out the plan I have for them (races) from the moment the gun goes off until the very end.”

Though Cooley has a particular, planned-out routine for her races, some other runners do it differently. 

“I don’t have something super specific but of course I always stretch like 25-30 minutes before just to get a good stretch in,” sophomore Caden Nelson said. “I always have music, it helps me to get in the zone. Then I always take a little packet of honey before each race.” 

Not only do runners have a personal ritual, some teams have a ritual that they do together. 

“We always do our little team prayer,” sophomore runner Shelbey Zickefoose said. “Then I usually jump up and down a lot.”

As for the significance behind the rituals, they all vary in reasoning. 

“The jumping up and down is just for me to release some anxiety about the race or some stress that I have,” Zickefoose said. “It also helps me realize that it isn’t that big of a deal.”

Regarding Cooley, the reason behind her pre-race meal and planning is more for superstitious reasons. 

“I ate the chicken and rice the night before I broke my two-mile record and my mile record so I think that’s kind of lucky somewhat,” Cooley said. “The visualization thing is because I had a rough cross-country season, which was because of an iron deficiency, but I thought it was because I was giving up during my races so I thought to fix that I’d start to imagine what needed to happen in my races and that would help me figure out  how the race was gonna go.”

Though many runners have many different types of pre-race rituals, it all comes down to the runner, how it makes them feel successful, and that they did all that they could do to do their best.