Personal Narrative: My Gun

Ever since I was little and even now, I have always loved sports that involve running, including track. In middle school when I was in seventh grade, I wanted to participate in track because I knew I would enjoy the sport. Track started in the spring during seventh grade, and the first couple of practices I thought were challenging because of what little practice I had before track had even started. From this point on, I knew I would have to work hard to reach the goals that I wanted to accomplish, and to even get personal records in running so that I could compete in sectional or even state meets that include top runners from every school. I had also kept in mind on what events I wanted to compete in, which were the one hundred meter dash,

I had been working hard and really felt like a part of the team. The first real challenge I faced was trying to live in the shadow of my older brothers. Who both had success in their running careers. It was the third race of the year and I was running in the varsity race against our conference rival. To me, this race was a chance to prove I was an important member of the team and could possibly lead the team as captain in the future.

And we were off; All 13 of our runners and 55 of theirs exploding off the starting line and across the field. I was in front, I always was for about the first 100 yards, then a wave of runners passed me and I settled in to where I was supposed to be. The light rain hit my face and body as I pushed through the 3.1 mile course. Although I had no shot at winning, I hoped my teammates in front of me were giving it all they had, albeit they most likely weren’t doing much better. After settling into a rhythm, I started to battle with a runner near me.

The first time i ran the mile was at an away meet against Sayville Middle School, I had been practicing and training for weeks  beating my own time repetitively raising the bar on my personal best time. Immediately upon arrival I was intimidated by the track, it looked like it went on for miles in comparison to the track at my school. The one hundred

During my final year of Cross Country around Regionals at Oglethorpe, I ran my final race for my high school career. Banks County was nearly number one in the State, the furthest we had ever ranked in history, and spirit and hopes for State Championship were high. I was nervous, like nobody’s business, I had messed up during my senior night because I was upset for my parents for not showing up and escorting me. And I was scared that I was going to do horribly. But as I ran, I realized that if I let my past mistakes and failures hold me back or get in my way, so I ran, harder and better than I ever had before and apparently even beat a “skinny kid”.

With my relay team stretched,warmed up, and ready to go, we headed towards the stadium where we would race against the fastest girls in the nation. Intimidated but not deterred we headed out of Tent City and into the gates of Turner Stadium. Knowing this was my last race I would run with my close friends and relay team, being it 's the last race of the season and we all weren’t going to be in the same age group next year, I had a whole new mind set. I was constantly thinking, “we have to make top ten because we can make top ten.” “We have the times, we have the strength, we have the speed, we just need to have the guts to walk in there like we are going to shred the track into pieces.

On a good day you 're mediocre, on a day like today, you 're horrific. That race, and the world-shattering heartbreak that followed, forever changed the way I saw running. I discovered that even hard work is not always invincible at the hands of fate.

At my second mile, I was in 36th place and the coach had a worried face. At this point, I started to give up. I started coughing, had a runny nose, and was gasping for air. I finished the race in 36th place with a time of 19:44. I was exhausted and sad that the season was over, but I knew that I had one more season left to make it to

After years of practice, I progressed in the sport and joined my high school team. Initially, running track was a way of escaping the stress from my parents’ divorce. It taught me to endure more pain than I could have ever imagined. With each grueling stride, my mind would fight my aching body to quit. However, I would always find a way to stay determined and keep pushing forward.

Getting off the bus, I was ecstatic. It was my chance to help my team in achieving our biggest goal. For fall, the day was particularly hot and humid. I enjoy running in cool, chilly type weather, so the heat was a conflicting factor in my race. But I refused to let the heat bring me down.

It is not just words on a page, this book is an inspirational, heart-warming, and sad book. This is book is about how a boy finds love in running and soon achieves his goals. When he first started running he thought it was stupid and there was no point. He starts devoting himself to the sport and is determined to achieve any goal he sets. When he was feeling broken down by someone trying to get his hopes down, his older brother, Pete would always give him inspirational quotes like, “ A minute of pain is a lifetime of glory” or “If I can take it, I can make it.”

Of course, as you'd expect I got fourth place in that race. Bummed from the results I learned to keep my head high and keep working I mean I was just a freshman. In the end track taught me that there's always someone better, or faster you just gotta work harder than them. My final sport that I have a passion for is rugby.

“Alright, you guys have run the course before. You 've all trained hard throughout the whole month for this. For many of you, this will be your last race this season, so make it count!” Coach Guzmán announced during a whole team huddle behind the Sports Pavilion and next to the track at Tustin High School. This was the day before the race, the Empire League Finals, which determines which schools will move on to the CIF Southern Section Preliminaries, the Cross Country equivalent of the quarterfinals in other sports.

She refers to herself as a participant and explains how anxious she, along with her teammates, felt. The author stays on topic throughout the passage, which keeps the reader interested. She doesn’t get distracted with other topics and focuses on her main idea.. She talks about the subject rather than just her experience in the race.

The kids would scream, and off we’d go. At the time, I was a sweaty, brown-eyed five-year-old, the youngest of three sisters, with one goal: to beat my older sisters to the front of the concession stand line. The distance from the bleachers to the licorice and lollipops was equivalent to a one-hundred yard dash. I remember my little legs took off sprinting. I was winning (at least I think I was), running faster than my sisters.