Long Run Descriptive Writing

“In running, it doesn’t matter whether you come in first, in the middle or last. You can say, ‘ I finished’ There is a lot of satisfaction in that” - Fred Lebow. I began cross country in eighth grade shortly after my brother joined the year before. He enjoyed it a lot, so I thought it would be fun. I’ve been on the team for two years. I would like to run for the rest of my life. Cross country changed my life positively forever. It taught me to push myself past what I thought was my limit. It revealed to me a great community of people and it taught me to leave my comfort zone.

After every race, you can vaguely expect what you will see up on the clock. I know, now, how much I put in, is only as much as I can expect to get out. Running has helped me form some ideas that are still fresh in my brain but will hopefully help me become a better version of myself. Just remember, someone may have a lifetime ahead of them, but they need to make the last bit just as good as the

I wasn’t always a runner. Some kids are born into the running cult, but not me. We have a treadmill in our basement that my parents occasionally use when they got on a health kick, but neither of them pushed me to be a runner. During the summer of sixth grade, my mother was talking to our neighbor in our driveway. While they were standing on the blistering pavement, the subject of Cross Country came up. My neighbor’s son was on the high school team and it was doing a

I’ve always had a desire for running and when I heard Richland Center High had a Cross Country team, I knew I wanted to be on it! When I did start, it was tough. There were times my sanity would ask, “ WHAT IN THE WORLD ARE YOU

I was surrounded by the sound of graphite moving anxiously over paper. The clamor filled my ears and collided with the dull ticking of the clock that hung over the SAT proctor’s disorderly, graying hair. There were only eighteen minutes left and I still had not written a single word. The prompt reverberated in my head like a ringing bell, but I could not form cohesive thoughts. My heart raced and my fingernails dug into the curve of my palm in panic, leaving small, pallid impressions in their wake. Pleading with myself, I considered the page that lay askew on the on the chipped desk in front of me. I wrote a desperate and painfully arbitrary sentence that I quickly erased. Nothing sounded right. I had studied and prepared for this moment with

In sixth grade I quit the school band in the middle of my third year to join Running Club. The goal of Running Club was to run a 5k after weeks of practice and I accepted the challenge. Throughout the duration of training, I would find the long runs consistently demanding and a test to my motivation to persevere in the club. One of the coaches, Miss. Ames, was my teacher from the previous year and she ran with me during practice. She constantly encouraged me to push myself a little more every run and to keep practicing. I was frustrated with my performance, but Miss. Ames continued to encourage me. Nevertheless, preparing for that 5k was an eye-opening and an overall amazing experience.

Last year when I won the Highland Conference in Cross Country, is when I really started to like running. I remember the first meet of the season. I had been running a lot, like 35 miles per week a lot, I was feeling very ready and just felt like I had the advantage on everyone else. I was in such good shape that the two miles you run in an actual meet felt like nothing compared to how much I had been running on my own so at that first meet I kind of surprised myself. I took off a lot faster than everyone else it seemed. I kept a much faster pace than most and just kind of kept it that way. The meet was at Manton, so half way through the race I remembered Manton’s cross country course is known for the signature obstacle, the mudpit. When I got

“Good Job keep going, you can do it, run run faster, you got this!” These were the words coming from the audience as I was finishing my last 100 meters in the cold, pouring, rain during sectionals. I was in second place in my heat and my heart was thumping and I couldn't see through the water stains on my glasses, but I heard someone someone breathing hard and their spikes hitting the track as they ran behind me and I knew I had to push even harder.I remembered the rough trading I had in practice and knew I could do it.

In the world today, people have created different hobbies for themselves. Many people like to read different books from different genres. Some like to do life changing experiments for science. Some like to engineer robots that could help us in the near future. Some people like to run and run and run until they know that they accomplished something. This includes me. I enjoy running because it helps me ease of stress, in a way, and helps me grow my strength. And because I enjoy running, I decided to join the Cupertino Middle School cross country. Here I started to on the weekdays, not including Thursday, with a lot of other people. We would run around 2-3 miles everyday thinking that “good enough” is not enough. We went to many meets against

My Cross Country coach, Bookie as my friends and I call him, had told me that he wanted me to run around 50 grueling miles a week in the summer. Bookie, a middle-aged man with a forever 5-o’clock shadow, told me his number and told me to text him with any questions regarding the regimen. The mileage that was expected seemed like a substantial change from my normal 30 miles during the track season. It took a while to get used to, but my lungs and legs got there eventually. When that time came, it was mid-July with a normal forecast of 80 and a sun, scorchingly hot. I didn’t enjoy stripping down to a tiny pair of running shorts that much, so I decided to try doing my runs during the cooler night. Almost instantly, I could tell this was going to become a

I remember the first year i did track, i was a freshman unaware of how this sport would change my life for the better. When I was born I was diagnosed with asthma, a respiratory condition that causes difficulty in breathing. I figured i would try track and see just how it affected my respiratory system. Practice was a constant battle for me, breathing twice as hard as everyone else. Giving it my all as i could feel my chest getting tighter

I honestly didn’t like to run until I joined Track and Field. I like track and field. At first i wasn’t going to do track and field until by sibling made me join . I like practice since our group ( long distance) would always be messing around with each and our coach would motivate us to try our hardest. When we would have meets, I would get really nervous before the race. During the race I would like the wind going through my hair and hearing the people cheering. Seeing the finish line would make me sprint the last 100 m and it would make me smile because I was done. I have learned the importance of working together and learn to not give up

I remember when I turned five, something in my mother’s head clicked. She wanted me to join track. I did not understand the point of running just to reach the finish line. Other sports like football, soccer, etc. have something to run for, but what does track have to run for? Yes, it’s to reach that finish line, but what is that going to do for me? That was the first thought that came to my seven-year-old self. Let’s just say for the first couple years my thoughts about running were far from being changed.

The warm sun beats down upon my forehead, and sweat beads upon it. Despite this I do not feel hot, nor cold, the climate is perfect not too humid yet not dry, paradise. Another fit of coughs brings fresh pain to my scorched lungs bringing me back to reality. I reach over to the worn oak table that lies next to my bed, but the pain in my joints prevents me from doing so. I heave from the pain that I have now become accustomed to. How did I get to this point, I contemplate this for hours on end as I have done many times before. Though I do not think about this much more as these horrible fits of coughing and heaving are progressively getting worse. I attempt to call to my parents to retrieve me more water, but the burn in my lungs protests and all that comes out is a muffled yell.

Although I have been running for most of my life; it has made me feel accomplished and willing to realize how great my future lifestyle will be. I will be ready for the next obstacle course that will be heading my way in my future. Running each day has changed my life extremely. Running is a good stress reliever. I have found it has been very difficult to combine school and work together. It is very important to be focused on school and work combined. I have noticed how difficult it has been to just sitting down and work on homework because I recently have been in a moment in my life where it seemed like I wasn’t able to focus on my school work. I tried to work with my teachers one on one to try to work to increase my grade, but it seemed like putting in the effort for the assignment wasn’t even worth it. I have been stressed out so much that I almost thought about giving up on this semester. I haven’t really ever given up on