My Favorite Sport

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)

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

Baseball... America’s pastime, many people dream of playing baseball in America and few make it to the majors. The book “The Natural” by Bernard Malamud followed the story of Roy Hobbs, a man who just wanted to play baseball. That was Roy Hobbs’ dream, to be the greatest ball player ever. Roy was drafted into baseball and started on the New York Knights. He played his first year and was the greatest ball player in his league, but his choices, jealousy, cockiness, and greed impacted his career. Everybody looked up to and loved Roy because he saved the New York Knights and made them a first place team after years of disappointment. The fame was unreal and he could not believe how his life is going. He started reading the media more often and

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

Although running may not seem like a big sport like football, basketball or soccer, it takes a lot of courage, heart and strength to be able to run. In the article called “Cool like me” by Donnell Alexander he says, “cool is finding the essential soul, while being essentially lost”. When we feel stressed and feel like we want time for ourselves away from society, running is a solution. Running is not just considered a sport, running is a lifestyle that people choose to live. It makes them feel good, look good and it makes them happy.

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

The coach made us run extra harder, which many people did not enjoy. I ran thinking, if I run hard enough, I will run the greatest 2-mile, the distance we have to run in the league finals, I have ever ran. We would run intervals, 1 lap, 2 laps, 3 laps, 4 laps, and vice versa. We would also run up and down stairs and run track laps until we felt like puking. The week passed by fast as we practiced, and the league finals was just up ahead now. The weekend before the meet, wasn’t much, but for most of the weekend, I had butterflies in my stomach multiplying every second the meet got closer. My dad told me not to worry, which I thought was silly, because this was a huge meet. I got a lot of rest sleeping, and finally, the day had come. The day of the cross country league

As a track runner, it is a necessity to be relaxed yet focused and determined. When I participate in track meets or even at practices, I receive a comforting warmth just by stepping onto the track. I feel as though burdens and worries temporarily lift from my shoulders. One may wonder how this can make someone content with their surroundings instead of nervous and uneasy based upon their environment and luckily for me this is an uncomplicated notion to explain. Unlike particular people, the track calms me and gives me a place to clear my head. I work relentlessly to achieve my goals, nevertheless it also gives me the clearance and space I need to effectively work my hardest whether it be a physical goal I am working to achieve

Throughout my high school career, I have been a varsity member on the cross country team. At practice and outside of practice, I have the opportunity to run several trails and gravel roads in my community. This is due to the fact that you cover quite a few miles throughout the cross country season. Cross country meets take place at several different golf courses, and the views are gorgeous. Even as you run, it’s easy to forget your performance nerves and be calmed by the green foliage and nature. The scenery is absolutely breath taking. Since cross country races are so long, I would occasionally reach a point in the race where I find myself completely alone along the race path, and you get this feeling of freedom. It takes your mind

Suddenly, with no warning, two runners of the grade below me pulled ahead. I couldn’t believe it! They were a year younger than me, yet they were faster. However, I knew I wouldn’t be able to catch up even at my best. As I neared the 100 meter line, I started to convert into a jogging pace and got my bearings. I allowed myself to breathe again and relax but still trying to run my best. I was in 3rd place with the two kids in front of me about 50 meters away. I cleared my mind and just concentrated on breathing; taking a deep breath in through my nose, and letting it all out of my mouth. I was starting to feel the fatigue in my muscles and my legs are crying for rest, but I refused. I started hearing heavy breathing noises and loud footsteps behind me, steadily catching up. I risked a peek to my left and was horrified and yet surprised that my chubby classmate was right on my heels. I was not going to be beaten again and into 4th place. I pushed myself harder and pumped my legs and arms with renewed energy. All my blood rushed to my head and I felt like a locomotive cutting through the cold air. As we ran around the bend, we were head to head and trying to outdo each other. He

I lay in the center, listening to soft music my iPod or the birds lulling me into a deep meditation. It is in this spot that I’ve had the deepest conversations with myself, coming to realizations and understandings about my relationships to life, others, and me. The secluded stillness allows my brain to freely wander, explore, and reflect deep concepts coming to profound insights that further benefit me in this crazy journey I call life. The winds, curves, inclines, declines of the trail makes it a perfect path to jog on. The isolation from the outside world makes it easy for my mind to focus on nothing but the task at hand – which is making it all the way around the 3-mile trail without stopping. Although, most times this doesn’t happen because I’m so taken back by the surrounding beauty. I always stop to take in the deep blue sky or the butterflies fluttering gracefully through the field of wild flowers. But when I am running I feel virtually weightless physically and mentally. My mind is blank allowing me to become one with my surroundings. The feeling of the cool crisp air breezing through my hair relaxes me as I intensely run to the heart pumping music blasting through my headphones. The path winds throughout an open field into a forest where you come out by the base cemetery. Passing it constantly fills me with emotion, carrying not only the weight for

All around me I could hear what people were saying and majority of my soccer teammates were talking about me, yet they could not know I could hear them. My heart sinks when they call me big ears grant and I always get depressed but at this moment I am used to it. I look different from people, well people look different from me.Only me and my bestfriend know my secret, the hopeless part is that my best friend died three years ago in a car accident.I refused to go to school for one week he was my only friend. Not even my parents know my secret that I can hear anything and everything.

Stress is always fraught in life. Having a stress free life is impossible, but having a stress free day is possible through running. The calming noises of ambient sounds of nature and the “pitter patter” of one’s footsteps seem to have a calming effect. I have had days where my stress has driven me over the edge, and there is only one way I can get rid of it, running. Anger and stress fuel me as I race out the door and release it throughout the next hour. My heart pumps rapidly as I take off down the road. My lungs find a rhythm of breathing and I can feel the anger slowly leaving my body like a pulse from each slap of a foot. According to howtobefit.com, “After 20 minutes of exercise the brain starts releasing epinephrine and endorphins into the system, which lower tension and help stress stabilization.” So for only twenty minutes a day one can begin to relieve stress from something that can usually cause stress.

Basketball is my favorite sport because I remember at a very young age of about three or four years old, in 1998, I first watched a National Basketball Association (NBA) game. I was watching when the Chicago Bulls was playing as I sat in the living room with my father and my uncles. I didn’t know what they were talking about, but my eyes were glued to the television when I saw Michael Jordan dunked on two people. His performance gave me the motivation and I started playing basketball to make a career out of it. I wanted to move my family out of the poverty without any financial worries so I stared practicing each day. Every day as I was on the basketball court playing, I used to wake up early in the morning dribbled the basketball from my house to the basketball court and into the park. I was about fourteen years old about to go to high school so I was practicing to make the tryouts. It was the summer time like around July 2009 and at first, I wasn’t good enough so, I told my mother that I needed a couch to work on my feet and left hand. She called one couch up and we had a one on one session to train me. After practicing, I went back to the courts and played a full court game with older and bigger guys. It was five on five and I was the youngest of them. I had a little jump shot, but I really had a back board shot. I was good with angles for a little man at that time, but I was only getting better. I started challenging grown men that were old enough to be my father. I lost some games, but won a lot plus my younger brother was always there with me. He used to stay on the sidelines watching because he couldn’t play with me. Yet, he was too young at the time to