Nixa High School sophomore Brianna Bidinger has strived since her years in junior high to win in track and cross country. Since going into high school, she has gone to state twice for Cross-Country. Though she didn’t make it last year, she has a goal to reach the state level for track this season. Through her dedication to improvement, she has experienced success more than once.

Question: What is your main motivator?

Brianna Bidinger’s Answer:  I think my main goal is to be the best- and you have to have enough discipline [to do that]. Even though running distance, especially, is really hard, you don’t give up when you’re not in the mood to run.

Q: What inspired you to start running?

A: I’ve been running since I was about 6 years old. I started off doing triathlons, which is where you run, bike and swim. Then I would do little 5Ks, and then I was also on the swim team. [Also] my sister did it before me, so I was always trying to be better than her. Then, once I got to high school, it was my goal to be as good as her. 

Q: How has running impacted your life?

A: I feel [running] impacted my life quite a bit because it’s one of my main priorities. Running is one of those things where I have a love-hate relationship with it, and some days I think ‘Oh, yeah, it’s so fun’ then other days it’s, ‘Oh, this is horrible. Why did I choose this sport?’ But for running, you have to have the grit and the discipline to do it.

Q: Do you have certain expectations of yourself and how you perform?

A: I feel like a lot of times if I’m not performing at my best, you know, I’ll get myself down, and I’ll think I’m so bad, but [only for] one race. I know that one race doesn’t define me, and the way that I performed doesn’t define who I am on the inside. So I always just try to do my best no matter what. It’s just a sport, so it’s gonna be okay if I do bad for one practice or for one meet. 

Q: What experiences in your past made you better as a whole?

A: Um, so last year, I would say for track, I didn’t make it to state and I had originally made it to state for cross country and I was expecting to make it to state for track, but I didn’t and I feel like ever since then, I just was like,  I want to go to state this year, so I need to start putting in the work. And then this year, I did make it to state for cross country, so I’m hoping that I will make it to state for track, but we’ll see how it goes. 

Q: How have you seen yourself improve since starting running?

A: I feel like my official running career started in seventh grade- I feel like ever since I made Varsity I was like, ‘just because you get on varsity, doesn’t mean, you stop trying your best you still have to perform well to maintain that spot and, like, you can’t just be on varsity and just, stop caring, so, ever since I’ve been on varsity, I told myself you have to still work out and put in the best effort and so I feel like that has made me a better runner as a whole, ‘cause it doesn’t matter, if you’re the best of the best, you know, there’s always other people who are coming for you and trying to be better than you. 

Q: How do you maintain being in shape over breaks?

A: Cross and track is mostly just like a year-round sport for me, so it starts in the summer, we’ll do cross country pre-season. but even like in the summer, it’s just four days a week, so, it ends on Thursday, so Friday, Saturday, or Sunday, I’ll do like long runs over those weekends with like the guys on the cross country team and doesn’t even have to be like eight miles, you know, maybe just four that day or five or, you know, whatever gets me in shape. And then for cross country season, you know, I’m trying to like run a lot of miles a week, so I feel like I typically run like 25 to 30-ish miles a week and then, um, I’ll run on Saturday and Sunday and then for track, it’s the same thing. It’s just like different workouts. 

Q: What do you do outside of practice? 

A: I run on the weekends. I also I’ll like to do workouts with the boys at home, but I also do like ab workouts and stuff, ’cause you have to have that good core for running, you know. And then, I’ll go to the gym with friends and work out there.

Q: Do you experience stress improvement? 

A: I feel like I experience a lot because you have to add on, like being a student too. so it’s like the combined stress and like the pressure of being good on the team, you know,  I’m not saying  I’m like the best, but I’m saying, if you’re on varsity, you have that pressure on you, so it’s like, you have to be the best and you have to perform well, so there is a lot of added stress, especially, like, from the coaches too, but it’s just their way of like tough love. You know, you either deal with it or, if you don’t wanna be on the team, you just quit. If you’re not gonna show up and run, then just like, don’t be on the team, you know?

Q: Is there anything you would like to tell people who read this?

A: Whatever sport you’re in, it doesn’t have to be running, but you have to have the discipline to want to do it.  You have to want to be the best, and you have to have the grit to keep pushing on, even if you’re not the best of the best, you still want to be able to continue trying and improve your career as a sport.