Emma Coburn didn't like running in high school. She did it for allowance money. Twenty years later, she's a world champion steeplechaser who's made every World Championship team since 2011. Her secret? There is no secret. Just showing up, doing the work, and understanding that whether you win or lose, you're meeting at 8 AM for the long run tomorrow.

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Emma grew up in Crested Butte, Colorado, playing basketball, volleyball, and co-ed hockey. Running was the sport she did because her family required year-round sports participation for allowance money, and track was the only spring sport. She hated it.

Junior year, coach Trent Anderson saw her running in flip-flops and asked to coach her. Then Joe Bosshard, her now husband, moved to town to be coached by Trent. Joe loved running and dreamed of competing in college. He was Emma's first peer who was passionate about the sport. The combination of Trent's belief, Joe's passion, and her parents' support created an environment where she could pursue running. But she didn't actually like it until the summer before college.

Emma learned from her coaches that hope and belief are surface level. Younger athletes want affirmations on their mirror, but belief comes from executing training and focusing day to day on tasks. You can't hope your way to the Olympics. You work your way there.

When things are hard, you ground yourself in the work. After falling at the 2021 Olympics, Emma went home, recovered, and got back on the horse. When her mom was sick and passed away in 2020, Emma couldn't control her health. But she could control her choices: go on the run even though she's sad, do drills and strides, get proper sleep and fuel. The work gave her things to control when everything felt out of control.

The journey matters because track and field is variable. You can do everything right and still not get the result you want. You can check every box and still get hurt. The sport's non-linear nature develops patience and appreciation for the grind.

Emma and her peers show up because they believe they can make teams and set records, but that can't be the sole motivation. Kate Grace described it as setting daily micro goals: the 60-minute run, the lift, the mobility work. If you check 90 of 100 boxes over 100 days, that builds to something strong.

Emma doesn't have tips and tricks for building habits because for her, discipline feels as natural as brushing her teeth. Going to bed at 10 PM doesn't feel like sacrifice. Remembering supplements or adjusting workout timing doesn't create stress. She's been a pro for 13 years. If maintaining structure was mentally taxing, she couldn't sustain it.

But she acknowledges there's a fork in the road: figure out a way to make habits work or set new goals. No one makes a World Championship team with bad habits. These are bare minimums required to be great.

Emma grew up with balanced eating where nothing was off limits. Dinners were homemade whole ingredients. Snacks included Doritos and Lucky Charms. There was never talk about needing to eat clean. This foundation carried through, though Joe's interest in exercise physiology helped her understand fueling for workouts.

Emma tries to teach younger runners this approach: nothing is off limits, have large quantities, focus on getting enough rather than restricting. Fueling properly with more carbs and more protein is critical for success and longevity.

When asked about 1% gains, Emma immediately points to super shoes as the biggest performance shift. High school kids now run excellent times partly because some never ran without super shoes. Emma wears New Balance RC Elite for most training, the Pacer on the track for quicker turnover, and the MD 800 spike with enough foam to not shred her calves.

Her message to amateurs: good training, good weightlifting, and super shoes will get you there. You can be out of shape with all the bicarb in the world and still not run well.

Emma focuses on the work she did to get there: a big workout, her last Diamond League race, the U.S. Championships. In steeplechase, she breaks the race into three one-kilometer chunks, each with a different mission.

She repeats mantras. At the 2017 World Championships where she won gold, coming in ranked sixth, Joe told her they had nothing to lose. Her mantra: stay on it, stay on it, stay on it. Then silence, deep breaths, and the gun.

For amateurs dealing with nerves, break the race into chunks. Give your brain something to focus on besides anxiety. Do math if needed. Just keep the devil on your shoulder out of your ear.

How Emma handles disappointment depends on circumstances. After the 2021 Olympics fall, the heaviness took a couple weeks. After tearing her hamstring at 2023 World Championships, it was problem-solving mode. Sometimes there's no answer and you just ran badly.

But Mark Wetmore's lesson echoes: the sun comes up tomorrow. The highs and lows don't define you. Tomorrow morning there's a long run at 8 AM. You can't wait for pain to subside before starting back up. Make the choice to show up.

Fast forward 10 years, and Emma believes she'll be proud of her effort. Not specific times or medals, but knowing she did everything she could. There might be tiny moments where she bailed on a rep, but overall, she never chose the lazy path.

When she puts her head on her pillow at night, she'll be satisfied knowing she showed up and did everything she could. That's sustainable excellence: not being the fastest or having the most impressive resume, but knowing you gave it everything.

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Jon is a runner, cyclist, and podcast host from Boston, MA, who now lives in Boulder, CO. For The Long Run is aimed at exploring the why behind what keeps runners running long, strong, and motivated.

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