Have you ever wondered what it’s like to be one of the world’s top athletes? Most people have, including me. Although I, myself, am not a world class athlete I like to think that all of my all of my hard work and successful athletic career has greatly contributed to my character making me a world class citizen.

This will be my seventh year running cross-country. I started in seventh grade after a friend asked me to join to get some more guys on the team. Coming from a small school it’s hard to get people to come out for a not so popular sport like cross-country so we have to do a lot of recruiting from the lower grade levels. After a few weeks of training I ran my first race ever. It was one of the most interesting experiences of my life. Being my first race ever I was pretty nervous but in the end became very successful. As a seventh grader I placed eighth out of maybe 100 junior high runners! This began my successful career as a runner.

The next season came around and I had a lot more training and experience going into eighth grade. I trained hard all summer and eventually started training with the varsity team because I was so far ahead of the rest of the junior high. That year’s varsity team was a group of really strong runners who had a good chance to make it to the state meet. Having only two graduating seniors the coaches saw that I would be a great help to the team when I was a freshman. The team did make it to the state meet that year and I was invited to go along to experience a big race like that for the upcoming years.

Freshman year we once again had an amazing team. For most of the year I was running in the top five on the team. Although we made it to states again most of the team had a bad race and we ended up placing 20th out of 21 teams.

Over the next three years I continued to work hard and qualified for the state meet all three years. My senior year I placed 40th at the meet and was only 15 seconds behind the last medal place. Just making it to the meet for the fourth year in a row was quite an accomplishment in my school. I was the first to do so in over 23 years and the second male runner to make it four years in the history of the school’s cross-country program.

Techniques I learned while running not only taught me to become a better runner but to become a better person. I learned to open up my mind and focus on my goals to overcome obstacles. In running this meant ignoring cramps and sore muscles and focusing in on a certain place or time in a race. This lesson also applies to life. It teaches us to focus in on doing our best to succeed, whether that be doing well on a test or just doing something that you never thought you could before.

A few years ago when we had our teams that made states right before the district meet our coach would read us a little story, “The Little Engine That Could.” This may seem a little childish but it makes a good point of never giving up. That year we didn’t give up. We were section champions, tri-country champions, and district runner-ups qualifying for the state meet. I learned a valuable lesson from this: never give up on life. No mater what obstacles life throws at someone just keep trying and as long as one is focused and has determination they can succeed at anything they put their mind to.

My cross-country career has truly helped in shaping the person I am today. Through running I have become a strong dedicated person who is willing to tackle any obstacle that lies in my path. College was one of the hardest changes in my life, but thanks to my strong will and determination I learned from running I made the transition smooth and successful while still maintaining a long distance relationship with my loving girlfriend.

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LynnM1227Narrative -used similar events to describe who she is

JeN14Narrative -she told of how athletics have made her who she is in high school but it may not be who she is in a few years