I've never been in any after-school activities. Then my mom introduced me to running. Her cousin's daughter had a hearing problem and was raising money through a 5k to pay for her special hearing aids. If I wanted to participate in the 5k, I would have to at least be able to run a mile. I worked on my running all summer, getting faster and going farther, when it hit me that what I'm really doing is the sport called cross country. I asked my mom if I could join, knowing she probably wouldn't let me, when she said yes! A couple of months later, the first cross country meet came up. I hadn't practiced as much as I should have, having run my first full two miles only the night before. We walked the course and then began stretching. After stretching, …show more content…
“Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, fiiiiiive!” he sang, then shot the gun. We all took off. I’m not very good at sprinting in the beginning, so I was in the middle to start. About a quarter mile into it, on a little hill, some racers stopped but I kept going. I passed like five people! I kept working myself but because I never practiced here at nine-mile, I felt that the course was longer than two miles and had to stop about a mile. But I wasn’t done yet. I went off and on, walking and running, because once you stop running, you let yourself have more breaks. Once I finished, my time was …show more content…
It was super hot that day, and I was exhausted walking the course. When the gun went off, everyone sprinted for the bend. The curve is probably 45 degrees, and I didn’t want to get stuck in it, like last year. Once I rounded the bend, the trail took me through the woods. There was a lot of rocks and roots that were spray painted orange so to not trip on them. I passed a lot of racers, and one was crying and walking the course backwards. We were only half mile into the race! There is a really pretty bridge in the woods, with a small creek running below it and colorful fall leaves surrounding it. The trees opened above it, and there was a golden ray of sunshine beating down on me as I crossed the bridge. The path turned back into the clearing, one mile. There was a huge mud puddle at the bottom of a hill that you couldn’t jump over. Everyone ran through it very quickly, mostly because we were running downhill. As I ran past the baseball field, right in the sun whose rays didn’t feel as good now, I wanted to stop, lay in the lush grass, and fall asleep. It was so hot! But I kept chugging. I sprinted right past the finish line and got the time of 13:33 and took 20th place. Stratford’s course is a quarter mile too short, but my time was way better than last year’s:
I have always loved sports and the competitiveness that comes along with them. In so doing, I have decided to eventually become either a high school or college coach at some point in my life. Subsequently, I decided to interview the Vilonia High School Cross Country Coach, Coach Sisson. As I walked into her office, I instantly noticed all of the trophies and team photos from all of the past years of coaching. She is also the school nurse so her office has first aid equipment intermingled into the trophies and team pictures. While I set up my notes and questions for the interview on one of the desks in her office, she was finishing up a diagnosis of one of the high school students who felt sick. After her patient left, I quickly started the interview in order to waste no time. She began with how she got involved in coaching. The Vilonia School District expressed their interest to her as being the next cross country coach several years ago. She was widely known for her passion for running and she gratefully accepted the position and has been a coach for numerous years now.
I am now officially in my Senior year of Cross Country , and am close to the end of my season. My first race of this year though was a big accomplishment for me, because I hadn`t been able to run. When I ran that race though it made me just so happy I was able to finish it, I was`nt happy with the time, but there is always time for improvement. I was glad to be racing again and being apart of the team again. I believe that my injuries were a barrier in my way, but they did not stop my sports career.
- representing the US in the 1994 Italian Del Passatore 100 km, where I finished 54th of 3500 participants in 9:39.
My first week of school, everyone encouraged me to join a club or a team. Of course I did not want to, until I heard we had a track team, and even then I did not know if I wanted to pursue it. In my mind, debating if I should dedicate myself to track was a hard decision. I was about to not only give this sport my time but also nothing but
Growing up, I played just about every sport our small town provided: soccer, basketball, baseball, football, boxing, golf, you name it. There was only one sport that I had yet to embark upon: running; however, during my seventh grade year, I decided to try it out, and it ended up being a great decision. From the beginning, the one thing that drew me in was the atmosphere. All of the older runners on the team really embraced us younger runners, despite our youth and immaturity. As a seventh grade kid not really knowing what to expect participating in a varsity sport, this gesture really meant a lot, and it is one of the main reasons that I fell in love with the sport. I stayed with this sport throughout my high school career, and now that I am older, I have the opportunity of being on the other side of the spectrum. My teammates and I love having the middle school kids on the team, and I try my best to ensure that they have a similar experience to the one I had just five short years ago.
August 22, 2015, a day to be forever marked with blood, sweat, tears, but most importantly, triumph. That day was race day. The day when all my hours of grueling training would face the ultimate challenge. The day where I would be able to identify myself as a runner. There’s only one problem with that—I’m not a runner; I’m a tennis player.
I’ve always been the type of person that truly enjoys athletics and have participated in nearly all sports offered to me. I started playing sports in elementary with club softball and basketball. As I entered my middle and high school years I was able to add the school sanctioned sports to my list of activities. This afforded me the opportunity of competing in volleyball, basketball, golf, track and softball. The camaraderie and life lessons of sports seemed invaluable to me.
I was so excited to start my new journey in school. I knew that being involved in a sport was going to help me become more confident. Running has taught me how to achieve my goals, be tough; both physically and mentally, and appreciate life. The first week of cross country was difficult.
Sports are not for everyone. I tried a variety of sports throughout my childhood but I was never really athlete material. I am as slow as a turtle and I have little to no hand-eye coordination, but I gave each sport a try. It was truly a shock when I decided to run cross-country since I had no speed whatsoever.
My sophomore year had begun and I wasn't sure whether or not I was going to do track this year. Last year I played football in the fall and soccer in the spring. Not really enjoying it, the decision was made to play " real futbol" (soccer) in the fall, leaving the spring sports season open. My friend kept telling me how fun track was, so I decided to give it a try.
I laid there for a few minutes, the cold ground soothing the pain that resounded throughout my body as the blood flowed profusely forth.
I barely noticed the different turns the track took. For the length of the valley there was no shade but it was just a four hundred so it wouldn’t be that bad. After that, there was a bend to the left for about two hundred meters funneling into a path in the woods.
Going into the first race we had not expected much since Susan and I had never run this type of race. There were so many crucial things that we had to remember. It wasn't just to get out of the blocks and burn up the track; there was a baton involved, a certain amount of steps to take, and even a certain way to hold the baton.
The exhaustion you feel after finally crossing the finish line at a marathon is like nothing you have felt before. You are completely drained physically, mentally, and emotionally. Your legs hurt to the bone, at the same time you are gasping for air while your throat screams for moisture. All of this is a small price to pay for the overwhelming feeling of self pride and accomplishment you are overcome with. Running the marathon is only half of the process. Training is very important with steps such as finding motivation, diet, safety, stretching, and last preparations the day of the marathon. With many physical, mental, and social benefits the hardship is well worth it. I greatly enjoy running and hope to one day run a full marathon.
was the challenge. If I were to just simply run this race, it would be