Daschbach Gives Us A Brief Look At His Senior Season


Summer

I started back up on July 1st, about 14 days after Brooks PR. I was very happy with my performance there, and I really couldn't have asked for more. In fact, I'm almost happier that I didn't win it, I just think I grew and learned a lot more than I would've had I won the race. But the moment that race ended I let go of the whole track season, right there. That's how I am with any race, win or loss. Once it's done, it's done. I never get too disappointed or excited over a single race, all I think about is what I'm doing the next day.

My focus immediately switched to cross country, I was hungry and excited, and that night when my coach called me about the race, we talked about it for maybe 5 minutes. After that we spent another 15 minutes talking about the upcoming cross season; races I wanted to do, how excited we were about the team, all the good stuff. I had my whole race schedule figured out by the first week: Desert Solstice, Twilight, Clovis, Mt. Sac, Sectionals, State, Regionals, Nationals. What are my goals for these meets? To compete, to race my guts out. I want to shock people.

I really haven't showed what I'm truly capable of in the 5km, nor have I had the postseason showing that I want in cross country. I think I get overlooked a lot because of this, but this season I'm completely different athlete, mentally and physically. I don't really want a lot of attention, I don't care about staying under the radar or anything like that, I just don't care for recognition or glory. I am feeling a bit nostalgic though, it takes me back to sophomore year cross, back when I had no idea that I'd ever be as good as I am now, just some random kid consumed with pure stupid grit and a relentless drive to be the best. I feel like I'm right back where I was 2 years ago, only on a national level rather than state level, just some random AZ bum with a dream.

Camps

So back to July, I did two running camps over the summer: one put on by Bowerman TC in Bend Oregon and my team camp in Prescott. The BTC camp was amazing. Bend is absolutely beautiful, but then again anywhere with trees looks attractive to a desert dweller. I was lucky enough to meet and speak with a few pros and get some good insight on their lives and their journeys. Big takeaways: never give up and you're going to fail a lot more than you succeed. In my opinion, I don't think a failure is a failure unless you learn nothing from it. I believe in turning failures into successes. The next camp was my team's camp in Prescott with team bonding, hills, no cell service, hills, good summer camp grub, and hills. Paradise baby.