Personal Narrative: My First Race

My legs got wobbly as everything began to spin and the next thing I knew I was falling to the ground. Starting cross-country my senior year was terrifying, but I am so grateful I did because this moment during my first race taught me a lot about my strength and persistence when I am tested with any type of challenge. It has allowed me to overcome anything I may face not only in running but in all aspects of my life. My senior year I switched from the Orange County School of the Arts to Edison High School and joined the cross-country team. I started training with the team over the summer. Despite all the time and hard work I was putting in, I did not feel like I was improving much. With this feeling I lowered my expectations and

I had no pressure or expectations since I had no prior times to hit or goals to meet. So when the gun went off I was not expecting that the power of adrenaline could do so much. I ran the first two miles faster than I had ever run at practice and it was a breeze. As I got towards the end I could hear my coaches yelling, “Push hard! You have four hundred meters left!” And that’s exactly what I did and my body was not prepared for it. I went down a slight hill and used gravity to sprint as hard as I could to the finish. With about two hundred and fifty meters to go, I started to feel dizzy and began dry heaving. This was the point when everything went into slow motion: my legs felt like spaghetti that could not possibly hold the weight of my body and when I looked out at the people around me I felt like I was at the center of a carousel and everyone was spinning around me. After that, all I can remember is my hands slamming into the thick, damp dirt trying to break my fall and then everything was a blur until I was walking back to our team tent. I was later informed that even after collapsing I still finished. At that moment I could care less about my time, I just couldn’t believe that subconsciously I had the determination to