Narrative Essay about Running

Running has been a part of my whole life. Through all the sports I've done, running has always been a part of it. So, it isn't a surprise that I ended up on the Cross country team. What I didn’t know is that the difference between middle school and high school would be very eye opening. 

As a freshman coming up on the team it can be very intimidating. Especially when the previous year the team was state qualifiers and they had the very high expectation of making it again. The pressure was real right from the start of the season. That made things even scarier and being a top component right from the start of the season didn’t make anything easier. Very few seniors had left the previous year so things were cut throat as well. Making close friends was tough but one of the seniors took me under their wing and very quickly I got to know the varsity team very well. That helped ease the tension very pleasantly and we all became very close very quickly. Still the lingering thought of states hovered above all our heads and never left throughout every training session. When it came down to postseason, no one was prepared for what was to come. We placed second at the Federal League Meet, then on to districts where we again placed second. Then, the final deciding meet came along, it was regional week. It was a very quiet bus ride up to Boardman and during the warmup still not much was said. We all went to the start line and stood there waiting for the gun to go off knowing that the results of this race relied on our hard work and effort.  I very vividly remember 400m to go before the finish line our #1 runner in the group passed out with our assistant coach holding her head. All I could think about at that moment was “how could this have happened today”. They ended up taking her to the hospital just to keep an eye on everything but we were thankful she was going to be okay. As a team we huddled around each other including our coach, who had tears in his eyes, and we pulled up the results. No words were said, the phone was just slowly passed around the circle. You could suddenly hear the low cries from all of the girls one at a time. We were only 3 points short, meaning if our runners had passed 2 of the other runners participating we would have qualified. The bus ride home was filled with heavy hearts and buckets of sadness. 

This loss could only mean one thing, next season was redemption.All off season we silently trained and kept on the low even after our track season had been cancelled due to Covid-19. We couldn't see each other so we tried our hardest to keep each other in check and get the workouts done regardless of what was happening in the world around us.  As the start of our 2020 school year was right around the corner no one knew what to expect. Covid was crazy and we didn't even know if we would be allowed back at school. Very soon after we found out school was closed and all of our classes would be held through zoom. Thankfully since we were an outside sport we were able to practice together and see our coaches everyday. There were still so many doubts: would there be meets, are we going to get shut down, does everyone on the team feel okay? The season ended up starting a week later than it usually does but it was a start and that's all anyone could ask for. We took it week by week not knowing if the following weekend we would get to race. The thought of states in our heads was fading quickly as the world was going downhill. Life had come to a stand still and everyday felt like the one before. Motivation was very low but we all still showed up and put in the work. After 9 long weeks we successfully made it to the postseason at least we thought. We were back in school now wearing masks and people who were cross contaminated were sent home for a 2 week quarantine. Of course all season we didn’t have anyone on the team out until the most 4 important weeks of our season. I was sent home on the Wednesday of the week we ran at the District Meet. That meant that the state was only two and a half weeks away. To me I thought it was all over that meant I wouldnt get to run at states but my coach knew they needed me so he kept my spot open but had an alternate fill in for me in the time being. The week and a half locked in my house couldn't have moved slower. Everyday I woke up hoping to get to see my teammates, boyfriend, friends and family. Going outside and doing my workouts was about the only time I felt free. 11 days later I'm back at school 1 days before the Regional meet. This meet was almost more important than states because we had to qualify out to make the state meet. The course was worse than any we had run and no one had a good race causing us to lose even more faith in making it to states. But 20 long minutes later the race was over and all we could do was wait. It felt like forever but eventually the result later and what do you know we placed 4th. Top 9 teams out of 43 so we made it to STATES. That feeling is something you won't feel from anything else. Our hour and hours of hard work finally paid off.