It seems that every Olympic athlete has a good luck charm. Sanya Richards-Ross has a bullet shell necklace. Christian Taylor has his girlfriend’s pink shoelaces. Alex Morgan has a headband. This may seem strange until you hear about my good luck charm: over the knee chicken socks!

It was my first year of cross country. I was trying to think of some silly good luck charm that could “give me an edge.” A few days before the meet while picking out socks for the morning I found a pair of chicken socks. I told a few of my friends on the team and they said that I should and wear them to our next meet. 

I tried my absolute best in that race. My running was really, really good that day. For the first time ever, I got first for girls. I immediately correlated wearing the chicken socks with winning first place. I’ve never raced without them ever since. It has made me quite memorable as I have heard multiple people refer to me as ‘the chicken socks girl.’ 

I’ll wrap up this article with a quick piece of advice. Never take yourself too seriously! That doesn’t mean that you lose all respect for yourself; it means that you are able to throw on a pair of chicken socks and go with- or should I say – RUN with it!