I believe there is more to it than just running, you have to eat well, drink plenty of fluids, own the right shoes, get plenty of rest, keep your mind focus and love every bit of it. There's a lot of the little things that can make you, a stronger and faster runner. Most of these little things we often forget or neglect.   I believe they are essential to becoming the best athlete you can be. Two years ago,  during my last year of college at CSULA, I did not do the little things and as a result I got slower and weaker.   I failed to stretch properly, I had poor eating habits and I ignored my body telling me to slow down.   I did not do core workouts, pushups, spending time in the weight room, and plyometrics.  I can honestly say that I even felt overweight, insecure at times, weak, unmotivated and depressed.  This created me to have many ups and down and during my last track season at CSULA, there was a moment during a 10k conference  race I realized everything was coming to an end and it was up to me to show not just my school but myself what I have worked for all my life.   During my race,  Andres (bf) loan me his watch to help me with pacing my time so that that I can ensure that I will keep my pace in order not to over do it and crash towards the end.   My goal was to hit 85 seconds per lap although I did not hit the qualifying mark to make it to Nationals again, the important factor was that I knew my goal. I felt really nervous about the race because it was practically my last chance to run for college. 
My last two 10,000 meter races that I ran I felt were horrible; I was about two - three minutes slower than my personal best.   As I lined up next to my competitors my heart was racing and my hands were sweating like in all my other races but this time I was finally done with school work, all those papers and grades completed, now it was my time to focus. The starter said, " On your marks"  as we stepped to the line and everything went silent...BOOM! The race started and according to the watch I was on pace to hit that qualifying mark... for about four laps.   Slowly my pace started to decrease and my shot for making it to Nationals slowly diminished. I felt weak, I could not push myself to the level I knew I can do, I felt overweight and I felt embarrassed since I was the defending conference 10k champion.   I felt like I let down my team.    All of this could have been avoided if I did the little things. 

Last track season was my first year competing post collegiately and now representing Skechers Performance. I began to train with a fellow runner, Rosario Casteneda.   We motivated each other every morning,  by waking up early and beginning our runs at 6:30am.  We continued our work outs together, by running drills, plyometrics, core excercises, weight room training, and stretching the important muscles. When I felt lazy, Rosario would motivate me and vise versa. I felt confident, stronger, faster,  happier, fit, lean, and alive.   My race times started to get faster and closer to my personal best. After a few weeks into season, I had bounced back from a bad season and pr'd in  three different events. This has to be proof that the little things do work.   I've established great things in my life and that is, there is no sense to ignore your body and neglect your passion.  The key words are embracing the little things, by being focus, paying attention to your health and body, staying motivated and getting motivated by others, organizing your time, and believing that all will be worth it.