Persistence, Patience & Perspective with Asics Sponsored Professional Runner Logan Jolly

In this episode we connect with professional runner Logan Jolly who takes us through her 26 State High School Titles to her time on the Clemson University and University of Arkansas track team to her last college race where she made her dream of becoming a professional runner happen. Now sponsored by Asics Running, Logan shares the mindset, challenges and her perspective from her life as a high achiever who happens to run.

ryan@successbeyondgameday.com

www.successbeyondgameday.com

[00:05] Ryan: Welcome to shift Happens athlete Mindset Hacks, where we talk about everything, mindset development, taking lessons from the college and pro athletes, coaches and teams we get to work alongside. I'm Ryan Schachner. This is Cheney Robinson. And today, Cheney, we've got really kind of a special treat because normally people just listen to you and I go back and forth around set and athletes and things that are going on, current events, you know, psychological studies and all of that fun stuff. But today, and I'm really excited to get into this one because we're meeting and we're talking to Logan Jolly and she is a professional runner. So if you need mental toughness in any sport, being a professional runner is definitely the sport. But she's from Inman, South Carolina. She began her athletic journey at Spartanburg Christian Academy where she won 26 SC ISA state championships, and that's in four years. I'm assuming. We didn't repeat and reclassify a number of times, so it's pretty impressive. But she was also a three time Gatorade cross country player of the year for South Carolina. She continued her success in college, attending Clemson University for her undergraduate degree and then later to the University of Arkansas where she earned two master's degrees and became a DMR national champion, NCAA collegiate record holder in the four by 1500 meters relay, NCAA indoor team champion and three time All American. She also holds the steeplechase school record at Arkansas. Now she's running professionally for Asics. Logan recently competed in the track and field Olympic trials where she made it to the final round and finished 10th in the United States for the women's steeplechase. By the end of the season, she had reached 34th in the world rankings for her event, even setting an american record in the 2000 meters steeplechase and winning a major international race in Hungary. While she has accomplished many of her goals and dreams, Logan's true passion is in using her talents to bring glory to God and to inspire others along the way. Logan, man, this is an impressive bio, but welcome to shift happens.

[02:43] Logan: Thank you for having me. I'm excited to talk mindset, running and anything in between.

[02:48] Cheney: And that's that. 26, right? State championships? That was not a typo. That's 26 state championships.

[02:57] Logan: Yes. So it is 26. I will say it was in seven years. So because I was in the private school league, I could run in 6th grade on the varsity squad, but it is 26 individual state championships. By the time I was a senior, I was winning cross country, the 800, the 1600, the 3200, and then possibly a relay in there as well. So it was. They were starting to stack up by the end of my career.

[03:24] Cheney: Absolutely. I mean, you had to build your own case for all the trophies and medals and everything, right?

[03:29] Logan: Yes. I learned from an early age what pressure felt like and having a target on your back because I won as a 6th grader. And so I soon got put at the top of the state, and everyone wanted to beat me until I was out of there.

[03:43] Cheney: Well, a lot of times we'll joke about, you know, runners. You know, for me in particular, I was running because somebody was chasing me. You literally had people chasing you and still do.

[03:54] Logan: Yeah. It's always running around, running from people, running to catch people. It's always a chase.

[03:59] Cheney: There you go. How did you initially get into running and then how did you eventually end up as a professional athlete?

[04:08] Logan: It's been a long journey now. I've been running for over half my life, maybe even two thirds of my life. I started as a young seven year old. My PE teacher, Tanya Allen, recognized that I was running pretty well in our presidential fitness test in my blue jeans and tennis shoes. And so she had the eye for it and told my parents, hey, maybe try this sport. And luckily, at the time, my dad was still kind of. He ran in high school, my mom ran in high school, and he was running still. I think he might have even been training for a marathon. So he started to let me tag along on a couple runs. Then I kind of liked it. So we jumped in a couple local, like, track meets for the youth, enjoyed those. I ran a five k with my dad. Of course, he didn't want me to take off on my own until we got to the three mile mark, and he was like, all right, you can go. And I was gone before he finished talking because I wanted to run ahead. So I started to enjoy it really young. But we went to a state USA track and field meet, and I ended up getting put into a race where they combine different age divisions, because just for efficiency purposes, they were like, well, run, everybody together. But the winners will be determined by your age group. And I didn't realize what that meant. So now I was competing against all the age groups. It didn't matter that they were older than me. And I was running pretty well coming down the home stretch, and a girl passed me at the finish line by, like, a foot. I didn't have any time to respond, got beat. And that day I decided, this sport's not for me. And I retired at the age of seven. So I was pretty competitive then, but my parents didn't push me. They were like, if you don't want to do it, that's fine. Until I got up to the age that I can compete for my school, which was 6th grade, and I decided I was going to give it another try. So I signed up for cross country, started training in the summer. And then I realized I could run or I could play competitive cheerleading. So I was like, I'm going to switch sports. But my parents said, you already committed to cross country, so you at least need to go to the first week of practice and then you can decide. And so it was a fight to get there. I remember crying on the bike as my mom or crying while I was riding. My mom was on the bike struggling through a mile or 2 miles, but my parents told me I needed to uphold that commitment. I got to the first week of practice and I loved it. Once I could run with people and I could kind of compete. The older girls took me in. It was just, it was the sport for me. So I said no to competitive cheerleading, joined the cross country team, and that was really the start of my career. Since then, I've been running pretty much all year round for the rest of my life. So that brought me to through my high school years. I ran from 6th grade to my senior year, and by the end of my high school years, I was running well enough to get recruited to running college. And I decided to go to Clemson University for my undergraduate degree. I thought I would be there until the end, but as Covid kind of shook the world up and kind of just gave me a step back to realize, hey, maybe I could push myself a little bit harder, try a new environment and get the most out of my years in college. So I stepped out in faith and put myself in the transfer portal, which is a crazy thing these days. I really, I loved Clemson, so it was hard to leave, but I really felt like the Lord was calling me into something else. So I ended up at Arkansas. I never visited, just told them I was coming and they were generous enough to give me a scholarship. So I spent my last two years of college eligibility at Arkansas getting my grad degree. And I, because of COVID I ended up having six years in college, which worked out for me because by the end of that, I was at the best shape of my life. And my last race in college, at the NCAA championship, I ran the best race I've ever run and was able to claim an all american spot, which kind of opened the doors for professional running. That was always my goal and my dream, but in a way, only God knows how he planned it so that it happened on the last race of six years of college. One of the bright people were there to see that race. It qualified me for the national race for the seniors in the US, which is even more exposure. So just opened so many doors where I was able to sign with an agent and eventually sign with ASICs to continue running at this level and support a really awesome brand.

[08:52] Ryan: So you were going into that last race thinking, this is my last race. You had no idea the professional running was going to be a thing. How were you preparing for that mentally? Because a lot of athletes, there's not a ton of thought of what am I going to do after my sport? Cause a lot of them don't know when it's gonna end. And you know all that. So how did you prepare mentally knowing at that point that that was gonna be your, your final race?

[09:27] Logan: That's a great question and I honestly don't think I ever realized that, um, in my mind, I always wanted to be a professional athlete and I didn't know how it was gonna happen. I was just gonna run hard and, you know, like, leave it up to the Lord to see what happened with that. Um, so I knew it was my last race in college, but I always had faith, like, there's got to be something more. This can't be the end. So I guess I was either in denial or a little bit of ignorance, but I just really wanted to go run and run my very best. And I kind of was just not going to let it be my last race, which worked out in my favor. And maybe that's not for everyone, but I think if you get caught up in the fact that, oh, if I don't run well, then the whole world's falling apart, then you probably won't run well. So just being able to, like, run hard, run my best, run free in that last race, make the most of it, um, it really opened doors later on.

[10:23] Cheney: It took six years to get to that perfect race. Right, right. So there was a lot of time on the track or on the course in preparation. And we know preparation usually is the key to success, uh, with your sport being running, which takes a tremendous amount of willpower for many people to, to do, let alone it at the. The level that you do it. Right. How did you approach practice and preparation and what advice would you give to younger runners?

[10:51] Logan: Running is a very mental sport, as you mentioned earlier, and it's year round, people always ask me when's your off season. And I'm like, I took two weeks off, but I'm back running again. You can't take a lot of time off. You have. You've got to run six or seven days a week, at least at my level, to just stay competitive. So practice is the day to day grind that gets you to the race. You cannot just show up and race. It's not a skill sport. It will show. You've got to put in the work. So I've learned early on, like, consistency is the key. I've got to prepare my mind, my body, all of that in practice if I want to do it in a race. So my week to week looks a little. Our day to day looks a little bit different, and not every day is a hard workout. Um, but on those hard workout days, I treat it as almost, if it's a race day, um, I prepare the same, I warm up is the same, I try to eat similar foods. Um, I really work on my mindset as if I'm in a race on those days and push my body physically. And then the other days, I mean, I. It might be an easy day, recovery day, but I have to do that with intent and purpose. So I think that preparation is everything you're doing to get ready for your competition. It's got to be with intent and purpose, and then you've got to be.

[12:07] Ryan: Consistent with it because you've been, like, all acc, all sec, and arkansas, we've found out, is probably one of the top track and field programs in the country. So you didn't go to just a slouch. You may have elevated your game a little bit, but all seC, first team, all american, national champion, you've been around runners in two power conferences, right? And there's probably some that had more talent than you but didn't achieve the same level of success. So, in your opinion, what do you think separates talent and success from just being talented and not achieving that success?

[12:53] Logan: It's interesting at this level because I always have my eyes forward on who's ahead of me and who's better than me. And sometimes I forget, like, I'm pretty talented. The Lord has gifted me about how I've been able to get here. But I also like to think, like, it takes a lot of hard work, a lot of consistent practice. Like, we were just talking about years and years. So it isn't just talent. I think to get to this level, you've got to have some amount of talent, but most of these girls or women or even the men at this level, too. I mean, it takes, it takes a lot, a lot of years and a lot of practice, but I think it's those that really have their mindset on the goal ahead. There's been a lot of people, especially when I switched from the college years to professional years, there were some really talented people that just decided that's it. That was all I wanted, and I achieved my goal of being a collegiate runner, and they moved on. So part of it is just outlasting people. Having your eyes focused on the goal ahead and putting your head down and getting, getting to it, not getting derailed or giving up on those goals. You've just got to, if you're going to keep working hard, getting a little bit better, eventually you're going to get there. I think that was kind of my path to professional running. It did take a full six years, and some people, it doesn't. Most people, it's four, some five. And thankfully, we had the COVID year to get me that extra year to get me here, but I never gave up on the goal. And I think that move from Clemson to the University of Arkansas, like you said, they, they were the best at the time. They had just completed the triple crown, which means they had won cross country national championship, indoor national championship, and outdoor national championship all within the year 2019. So they were like the dominant program when I, when I came in. So I surrounded myself with the best and said, we're going to do this. We're going all in or we're going to be done, I guess. So. I think just like really chasing off your goals, never giving up on yourself. And those goals, eventually you're going to get to where you need to go.

[14:59] Ryan: Yeah, Cheney. I've heard two things there, right? I heard a lot of patience. We live in a society that's immediate gratification. And I, you know, you talked about, you know, the running as a 6th grader with the high school team, and then you have six years in college. Right? That's a lot of patience. And a lot of times, you know, you're in a sport where it's not just an off season like a football player, you know, lifting and getting stronger. And now all of a sudden, you're accomplishing all these goals. I mean, it, it takes a lot of dedication and patience. But then, so tell us a little bit about how, how did you learn how to deal with and be patient? And then the second part is, you know, we always talk, you know, the circle that you surround yourself with can either elevate you or it can bring you down. Right. And so you make the conscious choice to elevate when you went to Arkansas, not knowing what would happen. You didn't even visit the campus. Right. So not knowing. Can I hang with these, with these ladies, with this team? Am I good enough? So how did you wrestle with the am I good enough? I'm always looking forward, comparing myself aspect of really dealing, moving from high school to college, but then college, from Clemson to Arkansas and now to the pro side of things.

[16:40] Logan: Yes, two great questions. I'll try to cover them both with the patience factor. I think, like I said, I've always wanted to run professionally, but it only became a reality towards the end of my career. And so it was like a long ahead goal. Like it's something I'm shooting for, but it's not something I necessarily thought about every day because that can seem like, oh, that's so far away. So I had these like other goals to get there, like stepping stones. So as a 6th grader, I was just running for fun. And then it suddenly became, hey, I could do this in college and maybe get a scholarship. Then the faster I run, the more scholarship you could possibly get or the better university. So then that became a goal. And then once I got to Clemson, there were a couple girls that were older and better than me and accomplishing some things I would want to accomplish by the end of my career. So they took me under their wing and I started kind of following that trajectory to become an all american, all ACc, all sec, um, so it almost became like just a stepping stone basis to get to the goal of becoming a professional runner. But I didn't want to focus on that so much that I lost track of what I needed to do in the present to get there. And even now, as a professional athlete, we work on four year cycles around the Olympics. So I'm now entering into a goal of making the Olympic team four years from now. And that seems really daunting. Four years is a long ways away. And so I'm trying even now to figure out, okay, how do we get there without getting overwhelmed with the fact that we have four years to make something happen? And if it doesn't happen in a 3000 meters race, my career is not a disaster. I mean, I can't put so much pressure on it that that carries the weight of my success, but also that's where I want to get. So I really think now I'm working backwards to get there in four years. What do I need to accomplish now? So that when we're there. We're ready and prepared to do whatever we can on that day to make it happen. I pride myself on the progress I've made through the years. I've been able to get a little bit better every year, and I think, as you said, that's about surrounding yourself with the right people. If I would have come to Arkansas out of high school, I don't know if I would be worth where I am at right now because the level of competition was almost too good for where I was. So I'm very thankful with the people that were around me counseling me and praying to the Lord for some guidance that I ended up at Clemson because that was a great environment for me at that time. I had a coach who was going to give me an individualized approach at a couple older girls, but someone who was, like, mostly in reach, where I could see where I needed to get, not so far ahead that I'm like, I'll never be that good. And with running, you can easily get hurt, too, if you run too many miles too fast or push yourself too hard. And so I think me being able to learn that through the years at Clemson on how hard to push myself, get a little bit better, train my body a little bit harder, so that when it came time to come to Arkansas, I was ready for that level of competition. I was confident enough to put myself in the mix, not get overwhelmed that these girls are so much better. And I think just putting on an Arkansas jersey, my confidence went through the roof. I was like, I get to represent this university. These girls are the best in the nation. I'm on the team. The coach wanted me here, so I belong. Those things came at the right time, but I don't think that necessarily would have happened as a little 18 year old coming in as a freshman. So I think it's important to surround yourself with people better than you, but you got to know where you're at so that you're not overwhelming yourself with too much greatness at one time because you don't want to play the part when you don't belong necessarily, but you can a little bit because you'll get there and you'll grow so that one day you're standing on the line, you're seeing people that you, you dreamed about being on a team with, and they're your teammates, and you're just as good, if not better than them.

[20:36] Ryan: What's the biggest difference now between the high level, you know, running at Arkansas, right. And now running professionally?

[20:44] Logan: In some ways, there's not that much of a difference in others. I'm starting to learn, like, this is a whole new world. Um, the running and the training isn't that much different. Um, a little bit harder, obviously, a little bit longer. I can push myself a little bit more. Um, but it's more seen in the recovery, the planning, um, the scheduling of the year. That's where I'm noticing the biggest difference. Um, we're all talented at this level. We all ran together in college. But you've got to find a way to one up people now, and you can only run so much without your body shutting down. So, honestly, at this level, we probably all train similarly, but it's all in the recovery and the small things that elevate your performance. So I've learned very quickly that I need more recovery. Napping is a part of the job. Sometimes going to bed early, what you're eating, those are the small things. And in college, my schedule was handed to me. I hopped on a bus or a plane. I had a hotel. All of that was taken care of. Now I'm the one that is planning what my year looks like, what races I want to run, and I've got to book my hotel, my flight, and I also have to fund some of those things. And so that's the part that I've grown up and realized, like, this is my job. It's no longer a hobby or just something I do part time. But taking ownership of that elevates, I think, your performance, because once you have some skin in the game, you're really working for it. I think it means a little bit more, and that levels me up for the professional world.

[22:15] Cheney: Peel some of the layers of the onion back a little bit. We've been talking about running and that being what you get to do. Who's Logan outside of the sport of running? And when did you figure that out?

[22:31] Logan: That's a great question, especially for athletes. I think a lot of times athletes get wrapped up in their sport, and that's who they are, and that sport isn't going to last forever. And so when it's over, you suddenly are like, who am I? What do I do in this world? And I've been very conscious of that reality, and so I've tried really hard to not make myself Logan the runner. Like, I want to be a person to people and not just a runner, but I have learned that's kind of who I am in this moment, and so I can't completely disassociate in college, I like to play the game of in class, I would try to see how long I could get into the semester without anyone knowing that I was a runner or an athlete. And sometimes now people ask me what my job is, and I'm almost a little bit like, it's embarrassing, like I would just run for a living. So I want to take pride in that because this is the crazy opportunity the Lord's given me. So I do want to be proud of the opportunity I have and that I am a runner right now, but I also internally don't want to make that all who I am. So right now, I do run every day, and that's my job. But we host a small group. I'm involved in my church. I help out with the university sometimes. And so in those moments, I try not to be Logan the runner. I try to just serve other people, be a friend, just enjoy life, because that's kind of what the life after running is going to look like. So I don't want everything to be wrapped up in the sport that I do. I think it's been a process of learning that through the years, and my side of it is almost being proud of being a runner and balancing that better than hiding it. But I think you can always enjoy your sport and be proud of who you are doing that without making that exactly who you are.

[24:21] Cheney: Right. So we talked a lot about being an athlete that uses their sport, right, like you said, versus the sport using them. So how are you running to create opportunities outside of athletics?

[24:35] Logan: That's a great question. Another one that we always worry about as athletes is what are you going to do after your sport? Or who are you outside of the sport, like we just talked about? And I've always thought, like, who's going to take, who's going to give me a job one day? When I say, oh, I haven't worked a day, I've just been running like I'd haven't used my degrees. But it's interesting how I can try to combine the two things that I've learned in my academic years into my running world. I did engineering, so it doesn't completely overlap with running, but I've made some Excel and Google sheets checklist, and I track different things. And I think you can always relay, like the planning, the scheduling. I have to build a team around me. I mean, those are life skills that I'm going to have to use later in life. But also I try to use the connection I'm making with other teammates, other competitors. I mean, there's so many people I'm getting to meet across the world, across the US, and even people that I get to just share my story with and make connections with that, I think make a long lasting impact. Rather than it all being about me running around a track and setting prs and winning races, those are always great. But I think it means a lot more when I get a message from a young girl who's asking about running or who wants to run in college and get a scholarship. Those interactions almost mean more sometimes than getting to run a race and run a pr, because I think the outreach of using the sport to reach other people, that means more, that has a lasting impact. And those are the things I'm going to remember later, later on in life, rather than. I have no clue what time I ran in a race in 2015.

[26:22] Ryan: I think a lot of times we view professional athletes as non human, right? They perform athletically, they're almost robotic, right. We put them on this pedestal and we forget that at the end of the day, they're real people, right? Help us, you know, humanize you a little bit. What are some of the things that you struggle with? Even if it's just day to day mindset that, those sorts of things.

[26:47] Logan: I'll be completely honest, I still get extremely nervous before almost all my races. I think I always thought, like, I'm getting nervous in high school at the state championship. How will I ever make it? And my professional career at the Olympic trials. And some days those, uh, it did seem daunting leading up to Olympic trials this year of, like, how am I going to handle the nerves? Um, so that does not go away. Even at the professional, um, ranks. I think I've learned to manage it a little bit more, but it's still hard to eat on race day, and I'm really nervous and quiet. Um, but it's encouraging in a weird sense that when I get to the call room for the track, track meets, where all the girls come together before the race, we're all really quiet and nervous in our own way, and I think we're all dealing with the same kind of nerves. And so what you see on the track, the fierceness, the competitiveness, the build up to that, the 30 minutes before, know all those girls are really quiet and we're in our bubble and we're nervous. Um, so I think that part is just normal. That's part of the, that's part of sport. And so part of life, um, is just being able to control your mindset. Uh, for me, this past year really was trying to prepare for the biggest race of my life at the Olympic trials, making sure I was having intent and purpose in every day, because some days it was really weighty to feel that I've got this big race. I'm trying to qualify for the olympics that only come every four years, but thankfully, I have a great support system. My husband has reminded me that my identity isn't in this sport. It's not in running. It's not in any result, but it's in Christ. And I think that has kept me grounded and reminded me who I am outside of the sport, which is what we've talked about already. I think you can't get too focused on outcomes, but there's so much to learn in the journey and the process to get there that if you hold on to those foundational thoughts about yourself and who the Lord says you are, that's what conquers those fears.

[28:47] Ryan: Brian, what advice would you give to high school students? As you mentioned, some of them reach out to you. And as they transition to college or just the workforce after high school, maybe some advice that you wish you would have had when you were their age.

[29:03] Logan: Something we've even talked about already is it's okay to set big goals and dreams that seem a little bit scary. It's okay if it doesn't happen, but the pride is in the process. I think there's so much that you gain from just going after those goals that even if you don't get them, you're going to be a better person at the end of it. And so that can apply to going to college or even the workforce. If you see something that you want in terms of goals and dreams, go ahead and set the goal. Figure out what it's going to take to get there and start working towards it. Because I think at the end of that process, wherever it ends, you'll be proud of what you did and what you tried for, rather than just dismissing it, saying, I'll never get there. So I very much encourage younger athletes, younger students, um, to not get stuck in just the day to day life. Set some big goals, challenge yourself, and I think you'll be proud of who you become.

[29:58] Ryan: I've got one more question for you here, and then I'll let Cheney wrap it up for us. But what, what was it about ASics that made you feel like this is the, uh. This is who I want to align with? What. What do you. What do you enjoy about them and being with them?

[30:15] Logan: First of all, the sports marketing man, or guy, I guess, at AsiCs, he is very personable and I had a couple conversations with him throughout the process of deciding which brand I was going to work with. And every time he assured me that this was about me and not about them, they were providing me with an opportunity to continue my career so that I can be the best I want to be. And it wasn't about them using me. And then I. Oh, you're not running. Well, we'll see you later. And even it's. It's remained true throughout the last couple years as I represented them, they've said, we want to support you as long as we can and as long as you want to run because we believe in you as a person. So I think Asics really, I felt like seen as a person and not just a runner as we've talked about. I really appreciated that. And they've. They've wanted to get to know my family. They want to know who I am. And that means a lot more than any price tag that someone can throw at you or gear or all the opportunities. I think the relationships you can make in this sport, in life is what's going to carry you. And I felt that with Asics, and I see that in their company as well. And so it's not just one man that works with me, but it's their whole company up the line.

[31:33] Cheney: Logan, you've taken a lot of time. We appreciate you carving out some time for us today. How can people follow you right now?

[31:42] Logan: I would say Instagram is probably the best way. My Instagram handle is. Logan, jolly simple enough, but I tend to post things on there when I travel for races and updates and recaps, especially during the outdoor season. So like April to July, August, pretty much every time I race, I'm posting a recap and you can follow along that journey. Maybe one day we'll get a website or something going, but for now, Instagram is the best way to just keep up with my running career. And every, every day I'm between.

[32:15] Ryan: Logan, we appreciate you. Appreciate you being so open with us, everybody. Here's another wrap on another episode of Shift happens. Until next time.