My Dreams Of Running

Of the more than twenty million Americans who are running today, most who start do so for the wrong reasons, with the wrong attitude, and tend to lose interest after a few weeks or months. Many quit. This is usually because they become concerned with superficial goals such as time and distance and never discover the more profound mental benefits that running offers. (Lilliefors 15)

In the book The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen, the main character Jessica is trying to adjust to a new life without one of her legs. Another character, Rosa, helps her through this while facing a disability of her own. Rosa was born with cerebral palsy. Even though some people don’t take the time to really get to know her, she has some great qualities that should make people want to. In the book, Rosa gets those close to her to see her real self instead of just seeing her as the girl in the wheelchair that has trouble talking. She manages this through using some of her best qualities: her friendliness, joy in helping others, and optimism.

One of my long-time goals has been to run a marathon. I have run cross country and track throughout my high school career, and not long ago, I decided that I am going to run a marathon this spring. I had always thought running a marathon would be something that I would do after I graduated college and was quite a bit older. However, a few weeks ago I decided now would be a better time than ever; I was coming off my last cross country season and wanted to continue running. Therefore, I talked to two of my cross country teammates, and we recently started training for a marathon together. After putting in a great amount of effort to run countless miles, it makes other tasks seem much more doable. Training for a marathon helps me manage my time better and strive to do my best in school. In college, I also want to keep running and run even more marathons. I know that running will help keep me disciplined and definitely correlates to how well I will do in school and in my future

Before I tried out for Track and Field, I imagined myself getting a bad time running my mile, imagining how half way into the mile I would be puffing for air, my

I didn’t stop running; I kept this up for what felt like thirty seconds at least before the overwhelming urge to cough stopped me. I attempted to grip the side of the wall before I keeled over and violently choked up more blood. Shaking, I stretched my arms out around me, praying that I would find something in this seemingly empty room that could give me some kind of relief. Something that would take away that

My feet aching, I plodded along as cars rushed by. I wondered what the drivers of those cars would be thinking if they saw such a small child walking by himself. As terrible possible situations played out in my mind, I reached the one story building that was my home. For some reason that I will never know, I did not go and knock or ring the doorbell. Reaching the house only increased the horrible feeling in my chest. This was probably one of the strangest things that I have ever done in my life and stands testament to the ability that fear has to completely alter our thinking capacities. Normally, all my life I have been known has fairly level-headed, but now I was reduced to an illogical

I used to be able to run so fast I could fly. Racing through the woods behind my house I was untouchable, unbeatable; I imagined I was a graceful as a fox and as fast as a deer racing over bushes, logs, and ditches. Running served as an escape from the perfect student, perfect manners persona I adopted in the classroom allowing me to break out of my shy shell and go from being ¨the teacher’s pet¨ to ¨the fast girl.¨ My love of running-- as well as my parents-- drove me to play soccer; I ditched my goody two shoes for cleats and never looked back. I could chase down any opponent and outrun any defender, through sports I completely let my boundaries down.

Many activities I participate in require serious commitment. Most notably, I am the captain of the Cross Country team and on the varsity Track team here at Brookfield East. To be at peak performance, I must train every day. Although running is difficult, it is how I “seize the day.” To get to where I am now, it took countless hours and substantial dedication. Now I am at the end of the road, all the time I put into acheiving my goal was not in vain. I have become faster than I ever was before and have lead my teamates to do the same as we pushed each other and met with success. The demands of race also require a straightforward mindset focused on competing. The difficulties that were tolerated during the training and race are turned

Sports differ in many ways even the things that should be the same can be complete opposites. I have played football, basketball, soccer, track, and cross country and I never payed attention to running in any of those sports except for in track and cross country. I did not notice the amount of running I did in all those sport until I had to only focus on the running aspect. To this day I can say I have learned lessons in all of my sports, but running sports have taught me the most. Running is mandatory in so many sports, yet it has presented some of the largest obstacles for a me to overcome mentally.

I find myself lying in bed, drifting ever so closely to sleep. My body slowly numbs into a more rested state. Abruptly, I am awakened by an incredible force that is pinning my entire body down at once. It is overwhelmingly strong. My limbs wildly try to fight back only to find themselves powerless to this unseen...something...what it is I am unsure. I am physically unable to move a muscle. I try to scream. The noise won't come. I try to scream louder. Still nothing. The more I try to push it off it pushes down harder and harder on me. I am unnerved by the fact that I see nothing causing this intense pressure. I feel breathless. I wonder if I've officially lost my mind. Helplessly, I begin to realize there is nothing I can do to stop this from happening. I give in, accepting defeat. Slowly now the force begins to recede. I find myself making weird babbling noises, grabbing deliriously at my pillows and blankets. I slowly regain control of my muscle movements. And there I am. Still lying in my bed. Yet now I lay terrified, confused, and unsure of what just came over me.

The voice in my head, normally so calm and controlled, was screaming at me to run. That was exactly what was going through my five year old mind when I walked around the hallway corner to see my mother being beat to her death by my biological father, Brax Magnus. As I tried so hard to stay and defend my mom, I could not help but panic and so I ran. I ran so far until I seen a small gas station. I went inside to find a phone, but realized I did not know who to call. The cashier, seeing that I was crying and looked panic, walked over to me.

I have really high expectations for myself and what I am capable of this fall at Mount Olive College. I have very high goals for myself and have revised what I believe to be a well guided plan to achieve them. I feel eager and excited to unleash my mind, thoughts and the power of my determination. I know that it’s going to be a lot of hard work and its going to take a lot of time. Also, with that comes the bittersweet of sacrifice, of parts of my life that I am going to have to change in order to succeed. But my grandfather has always told me “anything worth having is worth working hard for.” I am my biggest critic and supporter all in one. I know that the only person that can stop me from doing what I came to do is me. No one else has the

I jolted awake in fear. I had a dream. A weird dream. A vivid dream. It was full of people shouting and bright flashes of light. It was confusing yet clear, like some part of me understood it. I didn’t know it would be important then but now I know. How? Well, it happened like this…

From the time I was a young child I was plagued with nightmares. These nightmare continued thought my life into my teenage years. There were times that that the darkness surrounding me became so heavy, that I felt like it was drowning me.Pulling me deeper and deeper into its horrendous domain, until I could no longer see the light. In the wee hours of the morning I would awaken covered in sweat, panting, desperately trying to refill my lungs with oxygen. As the woeful tears rolled down my cheeks, I would close my eyes and picture ten

As I take a look back on my life, I realize how great it has truly been. I had an absolutely amazing childhood and I am beyond blessed for it. I grew up in a home with two loving parents that have been with me through it all and now of days that is something to be truly thankful for. My parents taught me to strive to be anything that I wanted and that I could be anything that I set my mind to. These dreams changed throughout my life as I grew older and as I grew into the person that I am today.