Personal Narrative Speech : My Love For Running

I was excited for a new beginning in my career, maybe to prepare me for high school in the upcoming years. The idea of beating boys in soccer got me excited, my blood pumping harder through my veins and put an extra spring in my step. It was the first practice of our middle school season, where my life would be turned upside down. I ran down the field as normal, going for another shot on goal, but out of nowhere one of boys came from behind and completely took out my knee, causing me to collapse in pain. Lying down on the field, my sanctuary, the place I saw as home was probably the most grueling time of my life. Injuries were common in my life, but this injury was unlike any other. I could not get up off the field and felt as if there was nothing left in my knee, and every time I tried to get up, I fell right back down. I never sat out a practice until that night and figured one day would be enough. One night was clearly not enough, I was never able to catch back up to my full speed, or be able to cut around the field, which resulted in moving positions from forward, to defense to cut back on the running. I thought this would a temporary position, but I played every game in

“Sprinters don’t even do anything,” is what the distance runners say. “You guys hardly even run,” they go on. As a sprinter, I hear this a lot. Every year we get grief from them about how they think we don’t do anything and it’s very agitating. Track and field is supposed to be a team sport, although people do run in their separate events. Having the long distance runners always talk gossip and tell us we never do anything is just adding unnecessary drama. I hope some day they can learn to stop making perceptions of us.

A significant challenge that I thought I wouldn't have accomplished was during our biggest track-and-field meet against all of the big schools around. It was the Shawnee invitational and one of our girls on the track team ended up messing up her ankle in her first relay race, which meant she couldn't run the 800m dash or the 1800m dash. I was the only one on the team who didn’t have four events because I ran the 4x2 and the 4x1 which was the main events at the invitational. So the coach asks me to fill in for her, my first thought was ‘oh Nooooooo, i can’t”. Not only did I just finish one on my relays and had to rest up for my next one, but also I was not ready to run only distant runs that day. I had only practiced for my events prior to the

I found my love for athletic activity at a young age. When I was 7 years old, I was enrolled in a YMCA summer program in Michigan. That is where it all started. My summer days were filled with various sport activities. Unfortunately, when I moved to California at the age of 10, I stopped playing sports for at least a year. However, during the rest of elementary school, throughout middle school, and in high school, I played different sports to figure out which one I liked best, which is now, Track & Field.

My whole body was in shock, everything I had worked so hard and long for was gone. All the time I had spent was wasted and I didn't think I would accomplish anything ever again. After a lot of persuasion and complaining I decided to continue playing softball on a travel team so I had some what of a chance on making the team in 8th grade. The longer it was the harder I started working so I could get a spot on the team. I knew it was going to be a challenge but I was p for it. I worked harder than I ever have all year so I would be ready. When the spring finally came around I tried out for the team and made it. It felt so amazing knowing I can do anything if I try hard

While almost everything in my life changed that winter I still had my love of running, and although I traded in my woods for a small fenced in yard I also traded in freezing weather for the beautiful sunny South Florida perfect for year-round sports. The first chance I got I tried out for my local travel soccer team, not at all expecting the different level of discipline and talent from my old team to this new one and I was extremely intimidated. The coach gave me a position and as I nervously jogged to my position on the field I knew I was no longer the star player. I dribbled and passed the ball slowly growing into a rhythm, when my opportunity to

In my freshman year of high school I made the freshman baseball team, a couple weeks into the season I received news that I was being promoted to the JV team. I was so excited I was gonna be able to play at the next level. That night I played in my last game on the freshman team and I broke my thumb after a bad hop. I was devastated when the doctor gave me the news that I’d be out for the season and in a cast for the next month. Soon after my coaches heard the news, I was sent back to the freshman team. After playing out all the hypothetical ways approaching the next few months could have gone for me I decided right then I was going to go to every practice and game to help my team even though I physically wasn't able to. At the team banquet

It was a cold, wet, and a windy day my Junior year. We had a football game about an hour and a half away from us. I started both on offense and defense, I also was on about every special team. We were losing 7-0, it was the 4th quarter with barely any time left and we were pushed up against the wall trying to fight back. We had the ball on our own 30-yard line and had to go the rest of the way and score to have any chance of winning. I don't know about the rest of the team, but at this point and time I was already dead, I was limping around and was sore everywhere, but I kept on pushing through it.

I was unable to shower on my own for seven weeks, incompetent of walking for seven weeks, unfit to even pull myself out of bed for four weeks, and once I could walk, that was as far as I could proceed, when it came to mechanics. Signifying when I wished to jog over and give someone a hug, or bounce up the stairs, I could not. This also designated that the fall of 2016 was me spending my time watching my team, my friends, and my family doing the activity I loved the more than anything else on this Earth - run. Knowing that if I tried to run that it would destroy my body along with causing severe pain, additionally watching all the people around me all summer swim, run, play catch, embark on a bike ride, and basically experience all of the undertakings a teenager desires in the summer, crushed my soul. The state of depression that one reaches when they contemplate taking their own life, that is where I was at, but one part of my situation gave me hope. Physical therapy was my light at the end of the

When times get tough, don’t give up. If you want to be the best you can be you don’t have a choice but to push your limits and try. As these words of encouragement have made me become who I am, cross country has shaped me into the person I am today.

Have you ever been so excited for something, and then not get to participate in it? It was basketball season during hell week, which is what our school calls tryout week for sports. I was a freshman on jv, running sprints for conditioning when I started having shooting pains in my shin. I was scared but I didn’t want to stop, I wanted to play. I knew I should have gone to the trainer before I got hurt but I didn’t want to. I learned pretty quickly after things escalated that I should never give up, and things will get better if you put your mind to it and be determined to work at it as best you can.

Spring of my junior year in high school, I joined track with wishful thinking. I’m going to do track, run sprints, and get into great shape for summer. However, with my luck it didn’t work out how I wanted. A week into the track season, I went to our school’s field to play a pick-up game of soccer. In the process of going to the field, I had to climb over a fence. Simple? I really should of thought this through, but didn’t. As I jumped over and landed, a loud pop sound came from my knee loud enough for my friends to hear. I sat there crying in front of my friends for a minute or two, but got up trying to walk it off. As you can see no is not an option for me, as I tried play a soccer game with a swollen knee cap. I was confused what happened, I didn’t know exactly happened. But sharp pains were shooting through my leg as I limped around the field. Little did I know a swollen and bruised knee meant torn ligaments.

It was October 2016 of my junior year, right in the heart of the Cross Country season. Cross Country was fun and team was doing great, but I was looking forward to the upcoming winter track season. High jump is where it is at and that is where I wanted to be and then it happened… I went down and my ankle was caught underneath me and twisted. I'm not exactly sure how it happened, but I was hurt. I was on the ground, in pain as other racers passed me. I was able to get to the finish it wasn’t pretty, it wasn’t fast, but I did it.

It was the beginning of the track season a few days before our first track meet. My friends and I were running around the track and my leg gets tense. Not terribly unusual I've had charley horses before, but then there's a pop and my leg gives. I stop running and my friends help me up and to the athletic trainers. They tell me I have sprained my hamstring. This was heartbreaking for me as this was the year I was going to run with my friends in the sprints and high jump as I was unable to last year due to a similar thing happening but with my feet. I was not going to accept this defeat and choose to show up every day to practice and to the trainers for rehabilitation. At meets, I would work around the track at either the high jump pit or the long jump pit. I would give my teammates words of encouragement as often as I could. I held the

I remember the game winning point in Van Horn Iowa. We Bump, Set, Hit.... It was a kill!. The crowd goes viral. It's 2016 and the Sailor Nation 7th graders are on there way to state!