A Test Of Strength And Stamina

I go to the grass by where we will line up for the race and I put my spikes on. Making sure every spike is tight; I double knot the laces and stand up. Now my stomach really hurts. The nerves of a runner before a race are one of the worst things to handle. The announcer puts me in line and I take a deep breath once it’s my time to go up to the blocks. I set up my blocks for my standards and take off my sweats. The breeze hits my thighs as my tank top flows from side to side. The sun wishes me good luck just before I start my race. I slightly shake as the announcer tells us, “Runners to your mark!” and I get down. Shaking more vigorously now, my heart is pounding in my chest. It seems like hours waiting for him to yell, “Get set!” “Go!” but once he does I know it’s go time. I push off my blocks, and I run as fast as I can. I can feel my legs moving together in motion as the balls of my feet dig into the track. My spikes are doing their job in helping me grip to the surface as I make my way to the finish line. Neck and neck with the girl next to me I hope she gets winded out near the end and slows down so I can just scarcely make it past her. I feel like I am running as fast as a horse. Crossing that finish line and coming to a slow stop, I breathe heavily as I exhale in relief of being over. I did it, I’m done… and I did well. My legs raw, I get off the track. (AB) Some fellow sprinters congratulate me as I do the same to them. That is what’s nice about track, it seems like most of the people are very friendly. They have no problem congratulating you or talking to you about how nervous they are before a race. We know we are all in the same boat and all we want is to succeed. Every blue moon a distance runner will congratulate a sprinter but I don’t think it has ever happened to me. I don’t know if they are just caught up in their own world or if they are just being stingy about the whole

As I mentioned before swimmers aren’t based on their ability to master the techniques but also in the values they posses. The values they posses are respect, honesty, fairness and courage. I had to learn and use those values everyday I went to swimming practice. There’s one thing that I needed to have to become part of the discourse community, which was being passionate about swimming and not giving up. At the beginning it was really hard for me not to give up when I was exhausted, but after becoming more passionate for swimming I never gave up. There were moments when I thought of giving up, but I knew that if I really wanted to call my self a swimmer I shouldn’t give up and I didn’t. For example, once I was in a Swimming Festival in my High School where I competed the four different strokes. I always finished second in the 50-meter freestyle race, but that day I decided I would end up first place. The race started and I jumped into the water and started pacing my self so that I would finish strong. In the first 25-meters we were all tied up and I was starting to feel tired. But I knew I couldn’t give up, so I took a deep breath and pushed harder. I pushed harder and was able to win the first place. After this race, I realized that even though I felt like giving up, something inside me was telling me to push harder and that thought led me to success. I was able to

"BEEEEEP!" Turning off the familiar but annoying sound of the alarm, lying in bed until the last possible second, I admit: this is the big day. All those practices and early mornings will be rewarded today. Finally crawling out of bed to get ready for the meet, I grab my goggles, a towel, water, and a quick breakfast on the way out the door. Checking in with the coach before finding the rest of the team as the pool area becomes louder with every passing minute while more and more people arrive at the big event. Sitting and resting, I try to save all my energy for the race. I put my headphones in and turn music on as I try to begin to focus. Talking to friends to try to calm nerves. It is time.

I woke up nauseous, too sick to eat. The whole drive there I was praying it would be cancelled. The fear consumed me; I couldn’t move. I just wanted to be home in my warm, comfy bed, instead I was diving into an ice cold pool. After warm-up my coach gave me a pep talk, but I was too nervous to listen. Sometimes I got so nervous I’d throw up, right before my event. To this day I still don’t understand why I got so anxious at swim meets. For the past several years, I have had a love hate relationship with swimming. I always struggled with swimming, and many times I wanted to quit. The time commitment and the physical requirements have always been a little too much for my mind to handle and it all comes to a crescendo when it is time to compete. I often wondered why I continued to put

“Get up now,” My mom yelled down the hallway. “Hurry or you’ll be late!” My brother and I dreaded waking up early to swim, but we had chosen to commit. Even though I’ve competed every year since first grade, I still struggled. That summer swimming taught me to have stamina, the ability to not quit even though it was hard.

It was my first race headed to Greater Lowell Tech.The first thing that happens when i walk into Greater Lowell’s track were 50 to 100 people in different schools including greater lowell there were schools like Mystic Valley, Northeast. My heart was pounding heavily like it can’t stop. luckily i was taking deep breaths to calm myself because the quad race haven’t started yet. So then our coach was discussing about Greater Lowell’s Course but there were a lot people i was shocked to watch. then show us the course when should we take advantage to pass people. Then the starter guy will say all boys will meet in the starting line so i walk there seeing 50 to 100 people in the starting line i already feel my legs shaking and aching a lot, mouth dry too need water etc. I look at the other teams they looked determined

I ran back up the hill to our camp, trying to move quickly without wasting too much energy, took my inhaler, and rushed back down the hill. Soon, it was time for the race to start. The officials gave an overview of information about the race and how it would start. The official behind us blew a long whistle. We stood, motionless, just waiting for that starting gunshot. Pow! The race was off. I sprinted out of the pack. I tried to find a good pace and settle in. We ran up a few hills, and then we made it to the first entrance to the creek. Unintelligently, I didn’t slow down very much going into the creek. Because I didn’t slow down, I splashed into the creek with a belly flop, almost submerging my whole body underwater. I got up quickly, then began to climb up the mud wall. I clawed at that wall like it was my enemy. I avoided the rope, even though it actually wasn’t that busy at the moment. I was too focused to switch strategies. We continued to run on, passing many fans, their cheers a chaotic blur. We passed through the second part of the creek, which was not nearly as deep. It was only about mid-shin to knee level, so I made my way through just fine. We ran all over the vineyard. I wasn’t feeling too awful. I was just caught up in the thrill of the race! We made it to the cornfields, and there were lots of small hills. I ran through them staring at the ground, and I kept seeing the same pair of shoes. For some strange reason, I kept staring at those shoes. People do crazy things when they run, you could say! Anyways, I passed the person wearing those shoes. We ran away from the corn fields and under a bridge. I was coming closer and closer to the finish. I was struggling to continue, but I would not quit! I pushed through the pain, but by the end of the race, I was just done. I saw the final hill in front of me. It was one of the biggest hills on the course, if not the biggest, and it was definitely the most difficult after

During the spring of 2015, I missed all of the time cuts to make Speedo Sectionals, forcing me to compete in a much slower meet at the end of the season. There are few things I have experienced that are more crushing than trying my hardest and falling short of my goal. Despite the heavy disappointment, I used the opportunity to harden my resolve and use my strengths to my greatest advantage. Along with my coach’s help, I used my ability to think strategically and hone my technique through focus on the smallest details from how I would approach a swim mentally to how I would warm up. My coach had many important and useful suggestions and lessons from his past experience that required me to be an active learner that could apply his information.

Early last spring the mail about the annual Donner Lake triathlon. When I set the school I was fearless and excited lying in bed that night I knew the preparation would be both physically challenging and mentally drained but I had a month to prepare myself. And I was determined the week after school was out on May 21, 2016 my family and I went up to our family cabin which we affectionately call the lake house. Driving up to Donner Lake I was filled with excitement knowing that this summer I was going to prepare for a triathlon as we descended down from the top of the summit I could see the sun shining on the Bluewater making it sparkle and the beautiful tall mountains filled with cream for a good smelling Pinetree's as we approached our small little brown cozy Lakehouse.

A large number of swimmers don’t like it, whether that be because of the sheer difficulty, or because swimming makes them anxious, or because they’ve simply been swimming for so long that they are no longer entertained. The last option is the one that seems to hold true for most club swimmers who no longer find joy in the sport, the ones who have been doing it for five, eight, even eleven years. Those are the people who are simply tired of it. I, on the other hand, love swimming and the feeling of gliding though the water. People will tell you that no one, in any sport, really enjoys practices, but I can honestly tell you that I do. For at least the last five months I have looked forward to swim practice everyday. If nothing else, I know that I have an outlet for my anger, frustration, or any other emotion that I may have. At best, I know that I have a group of friends who are all working to achieve the same goal as I am and that I can always lean on them for support and they can always lean on me, if need be. The feeling of swimming a good race is one of the best feelings in the world. When you can tell that you're just flying through the water and you have everyone’s attention and you know that you're better than you were the last time you raced, better than you were yesterday. I guess maybe that’s the thing I like about practice, that everyday I’m

Standing behind the starting block, I began to turn my head in both directions, eying out my competition. Standing behind lane four, I began to see who was seeded ahead of me. Seeing Her I began to shake girl standing behind lane three was Maya, my friend and the fastest swimmer on our team. Every chance I got to race her, I always messed up, one way or another.

At the time, I thought qualifying for state was the sole reason I worked so hard in practice every day. I couldn’t help but think I had just wasted the past four years. As I sat in despair, something that had happened during meet would not escape my mind. After I had completed the disastrous dive, my coach came up to me and said, “You’re still my hardest worker.” At the time, these words meant nothing to me, but as I thought about them more and more, I realized how impactful they really were, leading me to many important realizations. The first was that success can take on many forms. Success to some may be the number of trophies or medals won, but it can also be measured in personal progress. Thinking back to my first days as a diver freshman year, I came in being capable of very little. I had grown as an athlete and a person, which is what made the past four years worthwhile. I also realized that I took for granted my amazing support system. The swimming and diving team introduced me to some of my greatest friends and my amazing coaches. When looking back on some of my favorite memories as a diver, I remember the many laughs I shared with my teammates, not the times when I got a personal best or came in first

Nothing was in my mind at this point other than to pass the person in front of me. Step after step I focused on the runner in front of me and passed them, while practically forcing my teammates to do the same. Time started to become irrelevant as I got more and more tired, sweat dripping from my face and my muscles getting heavier and heavier. The burdensome humidity started to hit me, as well as the realization that so far the race has been downhill, so the last mile and a half was all the way a conglomerate of treacherous hills. After climbing the first couple of hills, I heard a person yelling, “One mile left!” Once I heard that, I knew that when push came to shove, I had to push forward as hard as I

When the day of the first swimming unit started, I felt scared, or perhaps that’s my present emotions getting in the way of my past emotions. We entered the locker room and equipped ourselves with our swimming apparel and exited to the room with the pool. I could smell the chlorine in the air. Everyone in my class was seated on a large steel bench and divided into groups; Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced.

I got used to it, or so I thought. I started taking my turns faster and getting in race mode. By this time I had calmed down and relaxed. I got to relaxed and got ahead of my self and BAM! I went down jamming my knee between my bike and the hard packed dirt ground. Adrenaline instantly hit me. I felt dizzy from the adrenaline. I could feel it run through my veins like cold blood. I picked up my bike I finished the practice lap and pulled into the pit. I put my bike on the greasy aluminum stand that I had been using for a year. I sat down to calm my nerves. The adrenaline was still there. I tuned my bike up for the race. I sprayed my chain down with a sticky liquid called chain lube. I took out the wrench and tightened my chain. As soon as I changed out of the sweaty clothes and wash the muddy dirt off of my face, I sat by the fire.