Personal Narrative Essay

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.

“Final call girl’s four by eight-hundred-meter relay” called the official. The Ontario Track girl’s four by eight-meter team trooped up to lane one, in unison. I would not have wanted to be racing with anyone else but my relay family. We had trained all season for this one race. Every workout, asthma attack, tear, and shin splint has lead up to this one race to break a twenty year old school record. As we jogged with the official from the bullpen to the starting line, the crowd had uproars of excitement for the athletes. An immense smile grew across my face, not only from the ecstatic crowd, but from the anticipation to race. I approached the starting line, in the first lane, while my teammates arrayed along the fence with the other second,

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.

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

At this meet, instead of a gun, they fire a cannon. The cannon fired and we were off. I felt super slow this meet. I was mad I thought I was going to get a worse time than Bob Schul again. I ran through the race passing people, letting the energy from the crowd keep me going because hearing someone yell for me when I’m running I feel so much better. Eventually I got down this small hill and I saw the finish line about 200 meters ahead. The clock was in the 17’s and I got really excited because for me, this was really good. I was sprinting as fast as my legs could go. I thought I was going to fall on my face because I couldn’t control my legs anymore. I ended up with a time of 18:08. A PR by a minute and a half, that would stand most of the season. No matter how slow I was, and how much my speed was made fun of at practice, I still got high-fives and congratulations after a meet. The rest of the meet was fun because we all hung out, waiting for the award and eating the really good buttered parmesan pasta. Greenville was not death, it was the best.

The finish line approached fast, my confidence had built as I forced my way towards the end. Still in front, I couldn't quite believe it. I was finally over the line. The roar of noise pierced my ears, serving to snap me back into this reality. The feeling of relief was immense. Arms all around me, like a cradle I wanted to fall back into, as my legs felt like giving way. I was exhilarated but

I was completely overtaken by small, simple things: the slowly setting sun and the intricate shadows it displayed on the bleachers; the feeling of the turf under my legs and back; the scent of the grilling, concession stand hot dogs drifting by every few minutes mixed with the smell of the track; and the coaches and athletes walking around me, always with somewhere to go, people to time, splits to discuss. I just lay there soaking it all in, experiencing life anew, “so concerned with the immediate.” I felt “so childlike, so awakened” like I was rediscovering the beauty of the

On Thursday I would swim the 100-meter freestyle but the days leading up to then I would be swimming other races. When the day finally came for 100 I was ready, I was so sure I would get the record this time. I stand behind my lane once again. I put my goggles on as the referee blows the whistle and I step up on the block. "Take your mark" I go down and block out everything but the pool in front of me and wait for the buzzer. The buzzer goes off and I dive in, not too deep this time, I kick up to the surface and spin my arms as fast as I could. 50-meter mark I flip and push off the wall as hard as I can. 15 meters left I put my head down and use the last bit of energy I have and reach for the wall. I take my goggles off and look up at the scoreboard, and to my disappointment, I missed the record again, in fact, I didn't even go my personal best and that made me even more

My coach, Tina Joy, led my team and I into a special room where we began to practice our routine. We had exactly 15 minutes to warm up out tumbling skills, stunts, jumps, pyramid, and dance. When we got the call that the 15 minutes were up, I began to get even more nervous than I was before. “You can do this, you can do this, you’ll be fine” I thought over and over again to calm myself down. We waited for almost over an hour till we got to perform. My team and I stood in our ”opening” positions right by the mat so we were ready to run on after the team ahead of us

Im standing in line waiting my turn to race. I am at the university of tennessee about to race the 200M freestyle against 50 of the top kids in the entire southeast. I'm nervous but excited I am prepared but worried and I am thinking of everything that could go wrong but I keep my focus. I have to it's too late to go back now. Finally it's my turn I step up on the block and I get ready, the siren sounds I jump of the block into the water I try to remember everything my coach taught me in practice everything that got me to this point. I make the first turn I am in the middle of the pack making sure to pace myself turn 2 into turn 3 I am now headed down the home stretch putting everything I have into this last stretch and it pays off 3rd place and 20th place out of 50.

After the meet started I was shaking so hard thinking about my races, I stood behind the blocks ready to race many races before my own, when it was finally my turn to swim my first race I couldn’t even feel the water

I can still clearly remember that I was really tired after I ran the first 400-meter. Suddenly, It was a strange type of pain in the lower left side of my abdomino, which was like something is slowly and softly biting your organ, but I did not choose to stop because I have a crazy desire for that first place. Therefore, without thinking too much, I held both of my hands into fist and insert my fingernails to my palm in order to stimulus my nervous. It was the pain in my palm that carried me through that race, and I was the first place in the end. Nonetheless, when I turned around and faced everyone who was behind me, I was quite depressed. It was obvious that the high school members had the ability to sprint in the last 100-meter, but they did not. No one took the race seriously except me. I knew I might look silly and funny to them since I

I can’t breathe. With the pressure of the looming two-mile relay in front of me, I hold the weight of a thousand pounds on my chest. Engulfed in a blanket of heat, darkness clouds my vision, and the tension squeezes tears out of my eyes. This is the moment I’ve been working for all season. My first and final race as a freshman at the state track meet.

Sam and I strolled onto the track trying to hype each other up and get all the nerves out before we ran. Since its an odd year girls would run first. After I got my lane number I looked around at my competition which I soon realized was girls I've run against before. The guy with the gun told us to get in our lanes and then gave us two simple instructions. Take your mark, get set, BOOM! Then we were off while running my mind was only set on one thing which was winning and nothing could distract me from that. Passing the finish line was the only thing that was different than the multiple times I've run it before. Different because it was a close race I had competition, different because I wasn’t a hundred percent sure I was going to win. Walking off the track while trying to slow down my breathing I could see the smiles on my families faces that's when I was sure that I did accomplish my goal I had

I thought as I pushed up another steep hill. It felt as if I were running up the side of a mountain, the path constantly twisting and turning, and the only thing predictable about it was that I was going up. The heat, which was not a major problem at the start of the race, started to get to me. My legs turned into dead weight, my arms to spaghetti, and I had a cramp in my chest, but I knew that the sweet taste of the finish line would be soon. One after another I propelled my legs forward, climbing the last hill before the straightaway to the finish. Everyone around me started to pick up their pace, my teammates closed in on the lead I had at the start, and I had no intention in mind other than to cross the finish line after the top of this hill. Everything was riding on this last push, and only my mind could stop me from finishing with all I had in me. The crowd’s roar got louder and louder. My breathing got heavier and heavier. My mind was empty, and the only thing I was focused on was the finish line. I sped up to full speed, and flew through the finish line. I had finished the race with a personal best