Run, Henry, Run !

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 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.

I remember going to sleep at 1:30 am, because I was working on my posters, and I remember spending 7 hours on a Saturday to brainstorm and write my speech. Eventually my hard work and dedication paid off when I won. On the other hand I remember that training for my 5k was much worse. On the side of being trained by the “Devil” himself (Coach Acuna) I was also training on my separate time with my dad. I wanted to quit every day and I didn’t want to run twice, but eventually I started to improve and I began to feel good. I realized that I could accomplish everything and anything I wanted to.

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 had no experience as a runner nor did I have the form. This did not phase me however. That year I promised myself to push through all the six mile runs, sore legs, gnarly blisters, and at times, lack of oxygen. At every meet and speed workout practice I pushed myself further and further. I set a goal every time I kicked off from the starting line and never let myself get discouraged when I failed. By my senior year, I was the fourth fastest runner on varsity. That year our varsity team won the district meet, which qualified us to run in the 2016 state meet in Oregon. The transformation over the years were evident. My determination to accomplish my goal of becoming a faster runner was complete. If I had simply just given up that first day of practice, I wouldn't have ran along side of the fastest runners in Oregon or have met the multitude of people that are now my closest friends. Having a goal sets one up for a challenge, whether it being physically or mentally, goals keep us active and thinking in more ways than one. Still, if someone has self-control, confidence, and a goal, they are still not complete.

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

I would consider myself to have been a very committed athlete in high school because I worked my behind off training for every season. Leaving my blood, sweat and tears on the track, not walking off of it until I felt I had accomplished what I set out to do. We don’t just run, we work. We work on speed, endurance, strength and technique. We work on teaching ourselves how running is mostly about mindset rather than a physical thing. We do this exercise where you run a 400 meters telling yourself you’re a brick, sounds kind of dumb, I know. But after you run another 400 meter telling yourself you are feather, telling yourself you’re like Mayweather “float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.” Without even realizing it, even after running the first 400 and being dead tired, we realize our times for the second lap were faster than the first! You have to tell your body what to do and be mentally in control so when you’re on your final 200 meters you can push yourself to limits you didn’t know you had. You will find very few track athletes who actually enjoy running themselves to death on a daily basis, but we do it because when you cross the finish and look up and see you name on the score board in a top place, you will want to relive the moment over and over again because it is absolutely priceless. Then when I received the letter telling me I had been offered a scholarship to run and jump at a D1 school, all the hard work I had been putting into this sport over the past four years felt completely worth

Soon, the exhaustion became routine and it took no effort to change into my running gear and welcomed the continuity. Before I knew it, I began to wake up before my alarm clock and race to the door and begin my run as I could. With my fighting spirit, I was able to push myself to adapt to different types of situations and start to accept them. I motivated myself to endure the pain I had gone through and came out to be a better runner. If I hadn’t pushed myself at this time, I would remain in the same situation and dread running even a mile.

I want to accomplish this goal in my twenties, so I can hopefully run more when I get older. I loved New York City when I went my freshman year, so running in the marathon would help me see the city with a new perspective.

For 2 years I was a member of the Central Toronto Athletic Club. CTAC is a competitive middle distance running club that trains its athletes to compete in track and field and cross country events. It is a year round athletic club that is a platform for talented people of almost all ages to train and to focus on their self-progress as an athlete. At CTAC I was encouraged to push myself to test the limits of my speed, endurance and strength and to discover what my body is truly capable of. Running was a very satisfying sport because my achievements were directly proportional to the amount of work that I put in. At CTAC, I learned discipline, dedication and perseverance. I had to balance my schoolwork with daily practices or workouts, I ran six

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.

I started looking at training plans and reading around the effort it would take to prepare for a full marathon, then had a discussion with my family who were very supportive and encouraged me to go for it.

"Fight or flight?" Readers wonder what Henry will do throughout the first few chapters of the book. Every time Henry asks another soldier if he will stay and fight or run, readers are left wondering what Henry will do when he is faced with a battle. Henry's reaction in the first battle to fight was influenced by how prepared he, and his regiment were prior to the battle, his fear, and his face to face encounters with dead soldiers. Ironically, these same things also influenced his "Flight," reaction in the second battle.

Running was a part of my life between 2014 and 2016, when I was still a young middle school kid. I tried out for the track team, and I ran for my first time in March. Track and Field was a new experience for me, I had

Still being a chubby twelve year old, the idea of running being its own sport was quite nerve racking. The races would incorporate other kids, but I would still be competing with myself. Nonetheless, I wanted to become better and do the best that I could do. I had absolutely no idea what type of events I could run. Low and behold, I was thrown into the three shortest sprint races like every other kid on the middle school track