Never Stop Trying

Running was never easy for me. As a young geeky boy, my skin barely saw the sun. My pale thin physique showed that I rarely exercised or even ate. Nonetheless my interest for sports was beyond extensive. My love for football had commenced when I watched Vince Young and the Texas Longhorns bring home the national championship, and from then on my athleticism blossomed… well sort of. It all began with playing on my high school freshmen football team. After seeing limited playing time primary only on special teams, I exploited it as motivation in the summer. Vowing to always try my hardest and to never give up, no matter how hard the circumstances were. Accordingly, it turned out rewarding when all that extra work and perseverance bestowed me with the starting job in only my 2nd year.

Under the blistering heat of the sun at the beginning of junior season, our whole team ached and moaned while we were getting conditioning work done. The field was drenched with water and reeked of vomit. However giving up now was a sign of weakness, “weakness is not what I want to see on the field or in life,” our head coach applied. Despite an opportunity to play on varsity, and despite 3 long and gruesome years, my body suddenly approached asphyxia. The pain felt like my chest was the scorching core of the sun boiling the entire Pacific Ocean in my lungs. Thus, I was rushed to the hospital and immediately transferred me to another hospital to sojourned overnight. A nurse by my side certainly eased up the tension, “If your breathing doesn’t get better, we will have to stick tubes down your throat” After days of recuperating, I was diagnosed with asthma. In addition, I lost my starting position and took an abrupt hiatus in football. I was beyond deva...

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...asy, then everybody would be doing it!” perceiving that I spun around and took off sprinting in the setting sun, so quick the speed of light couldn’t have beaten me.

Of course I didn’t last long but I kept trying and never gave up. As the days of summer progressed, there was never a day I would miss or give up on a workout. As the days turned into weeks, and weeks into months, an immense amount of improvement was shown. I grew stronger and was able to increase my daily running attributes. When hopes were low, I would remember what my coaches would incessantly repeat every single practice and it was to never give up, “Weakness was to test how far and how much you are willing to give up. Do not let it beat you.” Perseverance, to never give up despite difficulty or delay in achieving success. Asthma was my difficulty, but I got up, never gave up and never looked back.