Personal Narrative: My First Track And Field Team

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It was my sophomore year in high-school, and I was frantically awaiting the start of track and field season. Cross country ended about two months prior and since then training has been under way. Six days a week of heart-wrenching, sweat inducing, and exhausting runs. All to which would have never prepared me for what laid ahead. It began.
The first track meet arrived. We lined up, squishing 50 runners up to the starting line. As I stood among my competitors, butterflies flew inside my stomach and my hands started to shake. Silence...BANG! Just like that the race began and, in an instant, it was over. I hardly remember the race. Only what happened afterward will be forever embedded in my mind. It felt good to finish, smiles and laughter were all around me but as I stumbled past my coach I overheard him mutter, "Matthew is a disappointment, he has so much potential but throws it all away." Hearing those hurtful words stopped me cold in my tracks. All of the satisfaction from completing the first race vanished. From that day forward I never improved and the coaches’ insults continued. …show more content…

Her name was Sarah. She was uplifting and helped me deal with my frustration. However, she was the top 400-meter sprinter on our team, and the coaches thought I was a major distraction to her. It got to a point where they blamed me for any race where she didn’t do well. Every single day their demeaning words caused me unbearable pain. I felt like I was left in an inescapable pit of despair. While I laid there, I realized I had a critical choice to make: stay and persevere, or quit and escape the frustration. I thought very deeply on this difficult decision; it had the power to change my life forever. Thousands of reasons flew through my mind to quit, but only one reason made me stay. The desire to earn their respect motivated me to strive to become the captain of the

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