When I entered high school as a small, quiet freshman, the hunt for my hobbies began. I realized that there was nothing I was truly passionate about. All I did outside of school was play games on my phone or complain because I had too much time on my hands and nothing to do. It is funny looking back on this, because now I can’t seem to find a spare minute. This is because I joined the cross country team. http://il.milesplit.com My brother is the one that convinced me to run and sparked the fire in my heart for this sport. I was uneasy about who to run with or how far to go. My first long run is burned into my memory. It was a hot day in August and everyone turned around early. I wanted to look “stronger” and run with some of the varsity athletes. After making it about six miles out on the trail I was exhausted and hopelessly stranded, unable to run any further. Instead of quitting and running away from the sport, I decided to physically and mentally commit myself to improving. Each mile became increasingly more difficult and more enticing to just walk away. Every day I worked hard to become a top runner on the team and by the end of my freshman year I had worked my way onto the varsity squad. Cross Country has taught me how to be persistent and follow my dreams no matter how impossible they might seem. I am now in my senior year and am working harder than ever. My average week during summer training had over 50 miles in total and included a twelve mile long run on Saturdays. At one point I ran from the Dunlap library to the Peoria riverfront with some of my training partners. This season I finally realized that my team is much more than just a group of kids that get together to run, it is a family. As captain of the team I feel responsible for each and every runner and I strive to help them reach their goals. This bond is built during the hardest of workouts, pasta parties, and in the middle of a race. My own personal goals shifted this year from being focused on my own times and performances, to the goals of the team and what we want to accomplish as a whole. Cross country has been an experience that I have learned to love. It quickly transitioned from being an activity that was intended to simply keep me busy, to an activity that my life revolves around. I am happiest when I can get on the Rock Island Trail and run for miles without any worry in the world. When I am injured life just seems harder; I cannot think straight or focus on anything besides how I am going to get better. Running is something that will follow me my whole life and I will always be ready to toe the starting line, take a deep breath, and take off at the sound of the gun.
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March 2018
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