Personal Narrative-Racism Narrative

I kept going for the guy next to me performing to the best to his ability. Success was the result of all the hard relentless work done throughout June into August. I acknowledged that my team had a good group of seniors who were high character student-athletes I spent most of childhood with. Ultimately finishing with a record of 3 wins and 7 loses taught me many lessons on becoming a better person and

As I step out of my car and into the field the sun is making my face warm. The sun makes my face feel warm. Like if you have ever pulled a towel out of the dryer and put it against your face. I am walking through a field with grass up to my knees. I walk up towards the pond I am going to be dove hunting at.

Everyone has had that one life lesson or moral that they have learned one time or another. It might be “don’t judge a book by it’s cover,” or “when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. ” Mine happened to be “winning isn’t everything.” I learned my important life lesson on May 6, 2017. I remember the bright lights and the roaring crowd as my team and I walked on stage for what would be my last cheerleading competition.

Yet, there is still one issue that I’ve always wondered about. One could say that my experience in cross country has been far from normal. One year, I was running a thirty-minute 5k, and ranked eighty-sixth on the team. The

Knowing this I pushed myself to my limit pre track season; I worked harder than I have before in the sport and made incredible improvements. Once track season started I was so eager to show the world what I was capable of. The first few competitions were both fairy large and very important. I went into both competitions excited and motivated only to walk away frustrated and disappointed. Everything that could have possibly gone wrong while I was vaulting went wrong.

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

I had plenty of time to think about my runs considering that Rock Springs is 15 long hours away. Once we got there is when all the nerves started to get me. I found out when I drew up and it just happened to be Sunday night and Saturday morning which meant I had almost a full week to see my competition go. It also meant I only had two days to mentally prepare myself. On Saturday morning I got up early and worked Fancy one last time before the round that night.

For me, my racial and cultural identity has always been at the forefront of my life experience. I grew up in an Iowan rural small town that was founded on Swedish heritage. My home town of Albert City, Iowa was founded by my Swedish ancestors, many of which still have family there today. Therefore, I have always known that my Swedish blood was an important aspect of my life. However, I am also of German, Norwegian, and Danish heritage which has conflicted my views of my identity.

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.

The announcer started announcing the top 15 scores to come and receive their award. As the announcer went down the list, I hadn’t heard my name yet and when he got to the 8th place award my name was called, all my hard work had paid off. At first going into the tournament I was very nervous, But after I was proud of myself for setting a goal and completing it.

Failure is not easy to cope with. Failure gives people a sense of apprehension, a lack of confidence that they are not capable of achieving their goals. Although it does not feel the best at the time, this is where success is made. Starting off my ice hockey career at the age of 5 I met many new faces and did not realize at the time that one sport would have such an impact on my life. Through the ups, and the downs, ice hockey has taught me how to be a hard worker, contribute to society, and most of all, how to handle situations when the tide is against you.

The course had another about half of mile sprint (mostly in the woods) and exited and then came to one of the newer Savage Race obstacles, “On The Fence”, which was a chain-link fence suspended over water and racers have to traverse across without falling in. I really liked this new obstacle because it’s a good challenge and also reminded me of my childhood running away from cops when my friends and I would get in trouble

Finally, our last meet came up and I had been very excited. At that time I contemplated whether or not I would do cross country the next year in 8th grade. Though I didn't really come up with a clear answer, I promised myself that at this last meet I would do my very best. We all lined up at the starting line and waited to be released. As I waited for what seemed like forever for the starting gun, I contemplated about how I did in previous races and how much better I would try to do in this one.

I stood waiting patiently like a lion waiting ready to pounce on its prey. The white freshly painted starting line is the only thing separating me and the 3.1 miles of open air trails and rolling hills. The sound of runners simultaneously slapping their thighs and calves is like being in a thunder storm in the midst of summer. The suns warmth beating down on me is counteracted by the gentle breeze whistling softy through the open air of the wide starting area. My heart rate was starting to increase as if a drummer was increasing his tempo.

The first time I had a brush with racism, was 2 years ago. I was going for my CNA class early in the morning (6:30am) walking down Mitchell street downtown. This white lady was coming out of her car and immediately she saw me jumped back in the car and close the door. I look behind me thinking she saw something that made her afraid, and that maybe, I thought I needed to be aware too. But there was no one behind me it was just the two of us on the street.