Essay-Personal Narrative

The weather is perfect for racing: not too hot, not too humid, not too windy. I dash down the twisted trails in the woods, trying not to stumble on the gnarled roots protruding from the dirt. My spikes puncture the soft earth with every stride, and my legs repeatedly pound on the ground, soreness surging through them. As sweat trickles down my face and dirt smears across my aching calves, I ascend a steep hill, trying to bring forth the strength I have accumulated throughout endless hours of practice. Now that I am nearing the final two hundred meters, I must force my body to begin sprinting. Breathing heavily, I dart for the imminent finish line, trying to beat the uninterrupted tick of the timer. Even though the crowd surrounds all around me, I can barely hear their animated cheers, because all I can focus on is crossing the line before the girl next to me. I can feel adrenaline surging through my body, and I widen my stride to cap off the remaining distance. When I glance at my Garmin watch, a new personal best time flashes across the screen. I realize that all of the gruelling work I have put in is worth the final result: happiness. (Snapshot Lead)

Feeling exhausted, I focus on my breathing. I breath in through my nose and then out through my mouth, breath in and out. Repeat. After passing the mile mark, my coach is shrieking for me to relax, because I am on my way to qualify for cross country states. The top twenty girls qualify, and I have been dreaming of this day since freshman year. All I have to do is hold my position, and then I am golden. Suddenly, my legs begin to feel like jello. My running partner slowly fades ahead of me, and I cannot keep up. It feels like I am running backwards as the rest of my teammates pass me one by one. Fighting fatigue, I tell myself I am finishing this race, whether or not I have to crawl like a turtle to do so. I am crossing that finish line.

The highs and lows of competition have constructed in me into an entirely new athlete. My first year of track and field and I made it to Far East by qualifying in the 4x800 relay. I guess you could call it beginner's luck. I would call it dedication and confidence. After almost a week of running and jumping events, the time has come to announce the winners of the banners. With the awkward silence sitting and waiting for the results to be told along with the rest of the crowd, the announcer finally broke the silence. “The D2 Girls Track Champions of 2015 is Zama American High.” This one night as emotional as an groom seeing his bride walk down the aisle knowing that she is all his. Have you ever wanted to take a moment and breathe in the air of accomplishing your

This summer I attended the Metro Detroit Heart Walk benefitting the American Heart Association. It’s a walk or run race that started at Ford Field and span five kilometers throughout the streets of downtown Detroit preceded by a short informative event. I'd been asked to compete by my godmother Sandy, who works for a Henry Ford hospital, one of the event sponsors. I decided the run the race, even though I’m probably the least athletic person in the world. I wanted to challenge myself and make Sandy happy.

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 as fast as I could, I was tired but knew that I had to keep going. The sun shone down ferociously making it very bright and torrid. I felt sweat drip from just above my brow into my right eye. My eye began to get a burning sensation just as I turned the corner. My muscles ached, but I knew I had to shift into overdrive and pick up the pace. I started to run faster and faster. I began to get the feeling like I was about to throw up, but knew that I couldn’t stop now. I continued to sprint to the finish, and just as I crossed the finish line I looked to the clock and noticed that I set a new PR. The feeling of happiness that swelled up inside me took me back to the practice on the tuesday of the previous week: That day it was hot as fire

We were out for vengeance, and as the first heat came to a close, the three remaining teams lined up. Our team was Brandon Reid starting off the blocks, Isaiah running the second leg, me securing the third, and Bawa trying to end the race in strong fashion. As I loosened my legs up, the gun sounded, and I watched Brandon get off to a quick start. Before I knew it, Isaiah was 10m behind me and was ready to pass the baton. As I grabbed the baton from Isaiah, I noticed I was a few meters behind a kid from Avon. Never, ever again I thought. My legs planted and exploded off the ground in a simultaneous motion. I was like a cheetah chasing after a gazelle. As the wind blew through my cleanly cut hair, I began to close the gap between myself and the man ahead. In the closing 20m, I tried my hardest to catch the Avon kid, but I couldn’t. As I passed the baton to Bawa, my heart sank. As my chin dipped to my chest so I could only notice the ground, I realized I did not run the fastest 100m. At the end of the race, we finished second behind Avon, again. My arms tensed and my stomach dropped. Losing to Avon was the worst possible ending to my track season. However, my head would be picked up by a more important event that followed days after the Founders League Tournament.

I led a few stretches, ran a few warmup laps, and headed up to the stands. With my parents and teammates beside me, I felt ready to go, until my race was called. Then my heart dropped and the pressure of not false-starting, successfully passing the baton, and running faster than I ever have fell on me. My Coach led the three other runners and me down a tunnel to the track. Then we are placed in order by heat and leg

Barley in I could hear the pummel of feet, the clicking of spikes striking rocks, heavy breathing, and the crowd encouraging me. I was working ardous to think clearly and not let the sweat dripping off me and heat disturb me. I couldn't smell anything because i was breathing heavily. After the race a man gave me water and i was to drained to raise it. But i did and it chilled my throat with satisfaction. I sprinted to inspirit my teammates when their heat begin and it felt excruciating to hoist my legs. I knew Jonah and Noah would be rounding the corner soon and heading to there shoot. I strained my throat to shout as Jonah come in second place. Soon after Noah did not show after that. I started to panic because I know he should have finished by now. As each person passed I felt my heart squeeze tight and become rigid. hearing my teammates beside me questioning each other and stating things that may have occurred. I swung around and darted toward the other direction of Finish. After talking to a friend and a couple acquaintances. I heard someone had collapsed from heat exhaustion. I started to lose it and could feel my eyes filling with water. When I saw my teammates jogging to a

Barley in I could hear the pummel of feet, the clicking of spikes striking rocks, heavy breathing, and the crowd encouraging me. I was working arduously to think clearly and not let the sweat dripping off me and heat disturb me. I couldn't smell anything because I was breathing heavily. After the race a man gave me water and i was to drained to raise it. But I did and it chilled my throat with satisfaction. I sprinted to inspirit my teammates when their heat begun and it felt excruciating to hoist my legs. I knew Jonah and Noah would be rounding the corner soon and heading to their shoot. I strained my throat to shout as Jonah came in second place. Soon after Noah did not show up. I started to panic because I knew he should have finished by now. As each person passed by I felt my heart squeeze tight and become rigid. hearing my teammates beside me questioning each other and stating things that may have occurred. I swung around and darted toward the other direction of Finish. After talking to a friend and a couple acquaintances. I heard someone had collapsed from heat exhaustion. I started to lose it and could feel my eyes filling with water. When I saw my teammates jogging to a

“It’s about that time son,” said my father on an early Saturday morning. “Are you ready to run? “With a blunt and confident stare I responded, “I’ve made it this far, what is there to lose?” On the car ride to the stadium, I could feel chills running up and down my spine. I had never ran at a track meet with this many participants and doubt began to creep in my head. My father, while driving could see the doubt and uneasiness in my eyes and he calmed me by telling me to “Cheer up kid. I’m taking you to a track meet, not to jail.” Usually my dad is in a very serious frame of mind when it comes to me running and he always expected me to treat it serious, but when he jokingly told me that, I knew it was time to cool down and relax.

I was interested in learning why and how he appeared so confident rather than stressed like all of the other runners who were doing the exact same race. It seemed as though he, one of the many elite runners, was not worried about the competition, it was as if he hadn't even noticed them there. If he had gotten nervous, I was interested in finding out how he handled with the stresses. I asked him, “During the race do you get nervous at all? Why? Or Why not?”, in which he answered, “I feel that everyone gets nervous but when I get nervous it’s not really because of the race; it’s more or less me being nervous that I’m not going to run the time I practiced so hard to run.” This answer was interesting to me because similarly, I had predicted that since he had the practice and training, he was able to contain the confidence in what he was doing. It was as if he went to the meet expecting to run a certain time or perform at a certain level whereas a persons’ nerves are usually based off them messing up at some point of the race. In a sense, he was more nervous about not running good then he was about running bad. To this answered I replied, “Was there any point when you felt completely confident in yourself?” He responded saying, “Back in high school, in my Junior year I started competing at a high level and by my senior year I was the guy to beat; with that, I was confident that I was going to win pretty much every race. Occasionally, I would get nervous when I was faced with great competition but was confident I did everything I could to prepare myself.” This has a lot to do with self-imagery as he envisioned himself as the competitor to beat. This was the bulk of the interview and I feel this similar interview would receive similar answers from other Elite

Exhaustion was getting to me and made me want to give up. My legs felt like jelly, and I did not think I could keep going. Hearing the crowd cheer gave me the courage to finish the race. I could see someone getting really close behind me, so with all of my strength left, I took off on a sprint.

“Run, run, run!” I yelled to my teammate as we ran on our tippy toes to get to the tents. It was freezing outside, so we bundled up in jackets and blankets as soon as we sat down. I;ve been swimming most of my life, but this was one of my first year round swim meets. I had just swam a 50 free (freestyle) and only had one event lift…..the 500 meter freestyle. I was nervous and I couldn’t eat, so I went to swim on an empty stomach.

It was the day before cross country Sectionals, and we had the day off of school for parent teacher conferences. All I could think about was the big day I had ahead of me. Last year’s cross country season had ended unexpectedly, with an exasperating cold keeping me from doing my best at sectionals. I was expected to qualify for state, and failing to do so had hit me like a truck. I’d come back stronger this season, training as hard as I could so I’d be prepared for anything that came my way. Being stuck at home all day, nervous thoughts ran through my head over and over; honestly, I’d probably worried over every terrible outcome possible. Nothing in my life had ever seemed to stress me out as much as this race was.