Crouched in the blocks. Sweat dripping from your face on to the hot rubber surface that rubs skin until it bleeds. The rain is falling to the ground like it always does in Iowa during the spring. My muscles tightening with anticipation of the force that the human body can exert when that loud bang goes off. The bang that is very loud when you are watching but, at the line is as quiet as a droping a nail on the floor. My team mate and I were right next to each other in this race of pure guts that is the 400m. He looks over at me and says “we got this” Soon the starter would say “on your mark”. This is when we got in our blocks. Then came that infamous “set”, and all of a sudden the gun goes off. In an explosion of power we left our blocks and any chance that anyone could catch us at the starting line. From then on it was a pure guts race until we crossed that line.

This was my sophomore year of track at Northeast High School and was by far my best one. I've always had a problem with getting injured in track and cross country. My freshman year i hurt my back from lifting too much and with not having the best form while lifting and while running. My sophomore year while it was my best year I pulled my hip flexor which is a very important muscle for running so that ruined my cross country season. Then one week before track started I dislocated my knee and i had to let that heal before i could get into shape for the 800m. My sophomore year of cross country I was having a very good season training wise and it was bound to be a good year for me. But the first meet something happened while i was running i felt a pain on the front of my hip but I didn't think anything of it so I kept running until I finished then it felt like someone stabbed me in the hip with a fist full of rusty nails. The next day i ran in practice and had to quit early because of how much it hurt so I decided to go to my chiropractor to get it checked out and they told me I pulled my hip flexor. I was told I couldn't run until it healed but I could still do the elliptical which is a machine in the fitness center at my school. I hated it because instead of running and helping my team I was getting the minimal exercise but soon it healed and I could run at the best meet we go to. It is at solon and there is no hills in it I decided to go out and not let up on the people infront and behind be and surprisingly I got a good time and I started running full workouts again.

These workouts hit me like a brick wall because having been injured for most of my high school career i could never do a workout hard or even at all. So i just powered through them and after a while they got easier and easier until I had to get newer more intense workouts. Soon it came to the first cross country meet of my junior year it was hosted by Clinton at the erickson center on the north side of Clinton. The course one of the hardest in iowa because of the constant hills there is no place that's truly flat. I hoped that my training would pay off here but along with the training I adopted a new race strategy. I would go out with one of my teammates and stay with him until the one and a half mile mark and then we would do our own thing throughout the rest of the race. So the time came for me to race and I was more nervous than ever because I didn't know whether I was going to do good or not. Then the starter said “on your mark” and it seamed like an hour before the gun went off. That was the fastest 5k of my life at that point and I did good enough for varsity and couldnt wait for my next race. After a while and many meets later came the districts meet which would decide who took a short vacation to fort dodge and who stayed home. I was more nervous there than ever before because if i or someone else messed up the team wouldn't go to state. The race started and i was feeling tired and hurting but I kept going. My legs felt like weighed 100 pounds and I still had a few hills left plus the finish line was on a big rolling hill. But I kept going until the end was in sight so I started my push and passed a few people including one of my teammates at the end and came in at a good time for the course.

After nervously waiting for the results they started to list the order of the teams then they got to the top 4 “ in fourth place ………. mid prairie’’ at this we cheered because not only did this mean we were going to state but we also beat one of the best teams in the state. soon he said “in 3rd place………. northeast” we went crazy most of our team has never been to state cross country and we were ready to race. A couple weeks later we found ourselves in fort dodge Iowa at lakeside golf course on a cold november day. We gathered at the start line and we were ready to compete. The started came out and said “on your mark” then that loud bang that we runners live for. The sound that tells us we need to run. We went out hard maybe a little to hard but its to late to think about that the first mile came up it was at the right pace then the 2 mile alittle slow but still good. The last mile of that race was the longest ever every step felt long and my legs felt heavy. Finally I saw the finish line so I sprinted and didnt stop until the finish and then i about collapsed because I was tired and cold. My time was slower but so was every ones that day.The days after all i could think about was “ now track starts”. 

So here I am again but a different year in track again suffering from an injury this time shin splints that were turning into stress fractures but they were getting better. So there I am again, in the blocks for a 400m race at districts track being in lane 8 I probably wasn't going to go to state in the 400m but in the first 200m I was going to give them a run for their money. The starter came out “on your mark” slowly i got in my blocks “set” BANG i went out and didn't let up. I didnt go to state but I gave it my best try and thats all that is required of you as a runner. The day you stop trying is the day you stop succeeding.