Running

Narrative Essay

I had finished the race, and I looked down at my leg in horror. The pain raged from the tip of my toes to the longest hair on my head. This throbbing pain covered my leg like bees cover a hive full of honey. I have never felt anything more real in my life. It made me angry, but it did not help to get mad. There was nothing I could do but try to recover in time to be able to meet my running goals. At this point giving this dream up was not an option.

I started running every day the summer before my 7th grade school year. I was determined cross country would be my sport. I did not want to play volleyball and basketball like my three older sisters. I wanted to run. I wanted to be different. My first practice was horrible. My shins ached and I was no where near as fast as any of the other girls on the cross country team. I did not know anything compared to these girls who had been running together all summer. At first I was embarrassed, but as time progressed, I got better and could actually keep up with them. In 7th grade, at age thirteen I found that running was my passion. Running gave me the chance to clear my mind and to think. It gave me the opportunity to be different from my sisters. Cross country gave me a chance to stand out. I attended every practice with the team and would come home and run some more. I ran all through junior high. I was not the fastest, but I loved it. Finally the day of my first high school l meet had arrived.

The bus ride to the meet felt endless, but before I realized it I was running my warm up mile easily and my confidence was growing. Soon after the starting gun of our race had gone off I realized I was not falling behind. Everything in my mind was in slow motion, but I was keeping up. Before I knew it I was near the front of the pack. During this race the reality hit me that I had made running my sport. Running was what I loved. I set high goals for myself and during my sophomore year in high school it was clear to me that I had a very good chance to run in the state meet in both cross country and track. The beginning of my junior year of high school I could not have imagined my cross country season going any better. I was winning races, and my race times had dropped significantly from my summer training sessions. I truly felt I was on my way to a state title and definitely a running scholarship.

My fifth meet of the year, we were running at a meet called the Tiffin Carnival. It was our biggest league meet of the season. This was the one time I would run against the girl who I knew was going to be my biggest threat to me winning the state title. I started the race and was in first place the entire 3.0 miles until the last stretch. During