Progress.
This is my second year of running cross country. High school cross country is a lot better than middle school cross country. The practices are more personalized, and the meets are more fun. At my first high school race I ran a 26:46. At the second I ran a 24:40, a 2 minute PR. At the third meet I ran a 23:25, a 1 minute PR. At the next race I was not feeling well and ran a 23:52. At the next race it was a boiling 89, I ran a 25:07. No one PRed at that meet. The next race was also very hot, but not boiling and I ran a 24:29. The next race I PRed by about 40 seconds and ran a 22:41.
On October 3, I had my best race ever in the middle of the worst week ever. The day before my race I got in huge trouble with my parents and broke up with my boyfriend. I got dismissed at 1:40 from Mr. Williams geometry class to board the bus at 1:50 to race in Dike. The bus ride lasted an hour but felt like ten minutes. My teammate, Kiki, sat next to me worrying about her schedule. The school decided to switch the JV and Varsity races at last second so that if it rained Varsity would be able to run. Everyone on the bus was all jittery because one teammate was left behind and the weather was not promising.
We arrived at Fox Ridge Golf Course in Dike at about 3:00. The Varsity girls plowed off the bus to go to the bathroom while the JV went to get our camp set up. We laid the tarp down and the boys brought the flag. We walked the course in about one hour. The Varsity girls started warming up while the JV sat around talking about our race. Varsity was off with a great start. Now it was time for us to warm up. We did our jog and stretches. While getting our shoes on there were some sprinkles, but we weren’t going to melt. We went to the start line and did our dynamic stretches, our run outs, and our cheer. The Varsity then goes to the side lines and we go to our box.
“Two commands girls, good luck.” The starters voice quieted down the anxious runners and crowd. BANG! We were off. I was in third place. In first, a few feet ahead of me a girl from Clarksville was ahead of me; in second, right in front of me was Brianna. Right next to me was Mindi. We were in our first 800 meters when Brianna, Mindi, and I engulfed the Clarksville girl and passed her. Then it was us three in the race. Leaving Mindi behind, I passed Brianna while going uphill. I was in first place and I was determined to stay. I used the next downhill to my advantage, I strode out and made more distance between us. The only thing I was now worried about was the golf cart in front of me. I did everything I was supposed to do; I sped around the corners, surged on the straight aways, strode out downhill, and leaned in going uphill. When I had one mile left, it started raining. I could barely see, so I just followed the cart. Throughout the race the men driving the cart talked to me. They would encourage me to go faster and to get through the tough parts. I sped up as I was coming around the second to last corner. It was straight and flat and people were on both sides of the line when an official told the golf cart to stop. I thought that it was time for the golf cart to stop and for me to finish so I kept running. I had about 600 meters left. “No, there’s lightning, you need to stop too. We stopped the clock.” Those two sentences broke my heart. I put my head into my hands as tears started finding there way down my cheeks. I was now feeling what you felt when you were so close to winning that game or finishing that book. My manager, Amelia ran over to me a gave me a hug. That was the best I’d ever ran and they stopped me. I was enraged. My teammates circled me, even a few boys came over to comfort me.
To my enjoyment, our coach found another race for us in New Hampton on October 5. I used all my anger from being stopped in that race in my next race. I came out in first, PRed by almost 2 minutes, and made varsity for the conference meet.
Everything happens for a reason. Even though one door closed in Dike, I opened multiple doors in New Hampton. By not becoming discouraged, I made my team and myself better.
- Anonymous
