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Sports are supposed to be all about having fun, right? But as a freshman, I didn’t find anything fun about running. Moving my little legs as fast as I could to make me feel like I’m going to die isn’t worth it. And in no way did I find it rewarding or “fun.”
Looking back, I would call myself a slacker. Sophmore year track came around and yet again I thought how pointless it was. I had always thought it was a sport where you either have it or you don’t. Halfway through the season, I quit. I wanted a sport I enjoyed and not one I dreaded every single day.
The next year I tried lacrosse. It was fun! All of my friends were in it. It was a pretty easy-to-learn, laid back sport. I didn’t feel the stress I felt with track because it was something I didn’t have to work exceedingly hard at.
When lacrosse ended I looked for things to keep me in shape. So I went for a run. This was a pathetic ten minutes of running through my neighborhood at a pace that someone could probably walk faster than. It was hard, but once I was done I felt great. I began to go on short runs every day. It was hard to speed up my pace, so I took it easy. No one was forcing me to run faster than I wanted. I ran as slowly as I needed for the amount of time I said I would. Slowly, but surely, I could go for longer amounts of time and my pace sped up.
Senior year came and I joined cross country. Again, no one, including myself, would have expected me to join. But at every practice and every race I feel a sense of accomplishment. As much as I could say I despise running, getting to the finish line at a race is an amazing feeling. I’m nowhere near the best runner out there. But I’m not doing it to be the best. I’m not doing it to get into college or for a scholarship. I’m doing it for myself. Knowing I got here all on my own, and knowing I started doing something that I had always disliked so much because it was too much work, is one of the greatest accomplishments I’ve ever had.
This experience has taught me about working hard to get what I want. I know that college will not be an easy task but I believe if I have the motivation that I do for running, I will achieve many goals and do well in college as well as in the real world.