Self-Conquest: A Cross-Country Running Journey

646 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Importance of perseverance for students essay

“It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves” -Edmund Hilary. Or so my cross country shirt told me. For 6 years of running cross country this quote was meaningless to me. It wasn’t till my final year of cross country that I realized its meaning, through a self-conquering. For 6 years I was a subpar runner, in the first three years of high school, I was lucky to make JV. However, after my 6th year of cross country, in my junior year that all changed. Alex, a friend of mine who was a sophomore at the time, was in the midst of his personal project (a requirement of the International Baccalaureate program we are both part of). His personal project was to run a marathon, and he asked me to help him train for the marathon. I was happy …show more content…

However, that was not the end of my day. After collecting my award for getting second in my age group, I then drove 30 minutes and competed in multiple events at the Science Olympiad State Competition. After I got home, more than 12 hours after I left that morning, I had run 26.2 miles, and competed in one of the premier scientific competitions in the state. It was at that moment I realized just how much I could do. To run a marathon is an extraordinary feat on its own, and to compete in the State Science Olympiad Competition is an honor, to do both in the same day is a first. It was a great moment of realization for me, seeing that when I put my mind to something, I could do something that no one thought I (or anyone) could do. This self-conquering became apparent in my 7th cross country season. I had overcome the mental barriers, and I set goals and because of my motivation, I was able to shave more than 2 minutes off my 5k personal best (a hefty feat) and join the varsity team in winning Regionals and competing in the Colorado State Cross Country Championship, something that would’ve been almost unbelievable to me freshman year. But more important than my improvement in running because of my self-conquering, was my realization of the importance of others

Show More
Related

  • Personal Narrative: My Struggle To Cope With ADHD

    1159 Words  | 3 Pages

    I joined my school’s cross country team in the summer. At the beginning we performed pre-season workouts. The training was tough, but my proud personality and the very thought of what I had to gain kept me motivated and helped me push through the pain. Every time I felt like giving up or quitting, I would say to myself, “This pain is only temporary; remember that the reward will be permanent, and it will be worth the pain that I endure today.” I was able to push through the

    Read More

  • Personal Narrative: Determination In My Life

    357 Words  | 1 Pages

    When I was a young girl, my older brother always did very well in school and he and the rest of our family were always very proud of his work. As I grew older and noticed all of my brother’s achievements I decided that I wanted to not only achieve what he had, but to also achieve things that he had not. Because of this strive to reach and surpass the standards that my brother had set, I developed into a person with great determination. Throughout my life I have always set goals for myself and then did everything I could in order to meet those goals. This aspect of determination in my personality has allowed me to get to where I am today, a student of George Mason University. Whenever I am faced with an obstacle, such as a hard class, I make

    Read More

  • Personal Narrative: My Interview With A Cross Country Coach

    770 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Personal Narrative: My Senior Year Of Cross Country

    105 Words  | 1 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • College Admissions Essay: AES Engineering Scholarship Of My Life

    547 Words  | 2 Pages

    It’s the triumphs as well as the defeats, that I will remember most about my life when I look back in thirty years. If I can look back and say, “I didn’t think I could ever accomplish this, but I gave it my all.” Pursuing the next challenge along with being a well-rounded, compassionate person will allow me to consider my life a success in thirty years. Nothing in my life emulates this attitude towards what I will consider a success, in terms of pushing my limits, in thirty years, than my current pursuit of collegiate level sports.

    Read More

  • Narrative Essay On Cross Country Captain

    642 Words  | 2 Pages

    I am a runner. I was selected to be a cross country captain for my senior year and I had set myself a realistic goal of being one of the top five finishers at the state meet in the fall. I never had the thought that I could not do it; I knew I was going to be up there with the best. When the state meet came and I traveled with the team as captain, that race became one of the most memorable of my cross country career but not for the reasons I expected.

    Read More

  • Personal Narrative: My Collegiate Experiences

    596 Words  | 2 Pages

    Ever since I was a young student, teachers knew that I was not a normal kid. These teachers saw qualities in me that they could not see in many students at that age level. They saw a child who had a profound love to know more and had the ambition of a decorated Olympic swimmer to learn not just the material that was being taught but why it is being taught and how I can I use this information to make people’s lives better. Fast-forward to today, and you can clearly see that not much has changed except my determination to learn and my love to help others has done nothing but expanded.

    Read More

  • Personal Narrative: How Running Has Changed My Life

    603 Words  | 2 Pages

    Running. Running has provided me with so many opportunities. I have met so many new people and learned numerous life lessons. My life would be completely different if I had not had these invaluable experiences.

    Read More

  • Personal Narrative: Running A Half Marathon

    1167 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Overcoming Obstacles In High School

    542 Words  | 2 Pages

    I decided that I wanted to play a sport, I chose volleyball. Most of my friends played the sport so it wasn't hard for me to adjust and make new friends. Becoming a student athlete was a big adjustment for me, I could no longer float through my classes but I need to excel. And that's exactly what I did. For the first time in my high school career I made not only honor roll, but principal’s honor roll. For the first time my mom was proud of my report card, that made me even more proud. From then on I knew I wanted nothing less than what I earned, good grades and a proud family. From my decision to chose to become a student athlete not only make me work harder but, be great at everything I put my mind to. I had motivation to stay successful, to stay eligible. Three years ago if you were to ask me where I thought I would be my senior year, I probably would have told you low level classes barely making it by. Now here I am today excelling in my education preparing to take the next step in my future, college. Even if we don’t understand why we go through them, we have to be willing to let our obstacles become out

    Read More

  • Personal Narrative: Running Cross-Country

    645 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Sports Narrative - Track State Champion

    1317 Words  | 3 Pages

    The start of the 2002 track season found me concerned with how I would perform. After a disastrous bout with mononucleosis ended my freshmen track season, the fear of failure weighed heavily on my mind. I set a goal for myself in order to maintain focus and to push myself like nothing else would. My goal for my sophomore track season was to become a state champion in the 100 meter hurdles. I worked hard everyday at practice and went the extra mile, like running every Sunday, to be just that much closer to reaching my goal. The thought of standing highest on the podium in the center of the field, surrounded by hundreds of spectators, overcame my thoughts of complaining every time we had a hard workout. When I closed my eyes, I pictured myself waiting in anticipation as other competitors names were called out, one by one, until finally, the booming voice announced over the loudspeaker, "...and in first place, your 2002 100 meter hurdle champion, from Hotchkiss, Connie Dawson." It was visions like these that drove me to work harder everyday.

    Read More

  • College Admissions Essay: I Am Not Special

    506 Words  | 2 Pages

    I reminded myself that my achievements were not special. Thousands of students have done more, for far greater causes, right? I reminded myself that I am not special. I will never be the pretty one, the fun one, the cool one.... or the smart one. Because I, well, I am not special.

    Read More

  • Personal Narrative: A Marathon

    463 Words  | 1 Pages

    We finish what we start. This was the motto that kept me going during the strenuous training period for a marathon. But prior to that, I must confess, I wasn’t an athlete. I was never interested in playing sports, except for recreational badminton. During gym class, I would walk three quarters of the time when it time for the dreaded mile run. I preferred staying indoors and sitting on the couch and watch movies. The first time I had heard about a marathon training program, called Dreamfar, in my school, I thought to myself, what kind of crazy person would want to run a marathon? Never did I realize, eight months later, I would be that crazy person.

    Read More

  • A Leader That I Admire

    922 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...e advantage of my strengths. Since I am a better cyclist than runner, I passed two of the competitors in my age division while on the road. On the last transition, I took a deep breath and focused on my goal. There were two people in front of me. Mile by mile I got closer until I was finally able to pass one guy. Eventually, there was one mile left so I had to sprint. Two hundred feet away… one hundred feet away… fifty feet away… I barely passed the other runner. I finished the race in first place! After the race, I met the second place winner who told me he was a professional cyclist from Wimberley, Texas that traveled around the world competing. I was glad to hear this because I got very close to beating him, while being sick at the same time. I will employ this experience as a motivation that I will never make excuses nor give up on something till the very end.

    Read More

More about Self-Conquest: A Cross-Country Running Journey

Open Document