Personal Narrative: My Trip To Houston Texas AAU National Junior Olympics

I had been working hard and really felt like a part of the team. The first real challenge I faced was trying to live in the shadow of my older brothers. Who both had success in their running careers. It was the third race of the year and I was running in the varsity race against our conference rival. To me, this race was a chance to prove I was an important member of the team and could possibly lead the team as captain in the future.

Sports are both physically and mentally demanding. In order to succeed one must work hard and learn to develop a trusting relationship with teammates, coaches, and with themselves. Winning is not always easy, yet it can be attained with a strong work ethic and the determination to never give up. The movie, “McFarland, USA,” and the story of the Washington Crew’s journey to win Olympic gold in “The Boys in the Boat” both exclaim how hard work and determination create success in sports.

On September 14th, Haverford High School hosted one of the most important races for the Upper Darby Cross Country team. In most races, the winning team is not rewarded with a prize. But this was a different race. The girls team were running, fighting for the possession of the sports bra. The tradition of the sports bra was established by the coaches of both teams, Upper Darby and Haverford, in late seventies inspired by the boys’ tradition with a bronze shoe.

Perry Band Olympics. This phrase both excites and terrifies every band student in Ankeny. Every year, our directors selects different songs for their students, and the students spend around six weeks practicing. My junior year solo was the hardest solo I’ve prepared, it challenged me in ways that I had not been prepared for.

In life, even though we are told not to do so, a lot of us “count our chickens before they hatch”. We make assumptions on things before they happen because we believe that if something seems so likely, it will happen. Well, that is what my Liberty High School cross country team did my sophomore year. Going into the year, we not only knew we were going to be strong, we thought other teams were going to be weak. The top teams from the state finals the previous year had all lost most of their key pieces.

During my final year of Cross Country around Regionals at Oglethorpe, I ran my final race for my high school career. Banks County was nearly number one in the State, the furthest we had ever ranked in history, and spirit and hopes for State Championship were high. I was nervous, like nobody’s business, I had messed up during my senior night because I was upset for my parents for not showing up and escorting me. And I was scared that I was going to do horribly. But as I ran, I realized that if I let my past mistakes and failures hold me back or get in my way, so I ran, harder and better than I ever had before and apparently even beat a “skinny kid”.

I grew up in a rodeo family, my parents did it, my grandparents did it, even my great grandparents did it. I have been on a horse, well, since before I was born. I have had a rope in my hand since I knew how to walk. I even won my first buckle when I was three, my first saddle when I was five, and won a trailer when I was eight. I was the best around.

Today’s practice was two grass loops, going around the baseball fields from the Concessions building to the bleachers and back to the Concessions for more or to stop. Compared to the runs we have done out in the community, grass loops are the easiest our practice will get. Today is the race, but we still have our classes, as this is on a Wednesday, and to be precise, October 28th, 2015. We’re departing at 12:30 p.m. during fifth period, but we leave our class earlier at 12:15, only five minutes after class begins, to head to the locker room, change, and buy lunch. It is fifth period now, and fellow classmates and teammates Sebastian, Jonathan and I are anxiously waiting for the five minutes to pass.

RUN! proves that with determination and the right attitude, anything is possible. It is a well written story geared towards people who are both runners and non-runners alike. Each story is well written and has many different life lessons that can be taken away from it. Dean Karnazes has written a story

Hundreds of people in the crowd all chanted “Starlites! Starlites!” the music pounded in our ears. What made us the most nervous, however, were the other teams, from all over the country, their eyes burning into us, watching our every move. Many of the teams were composed of girls from different racial ethnic backgrounds.

Yesterday afternoon, Burns found his way to participate in the 18th annual Miracle Mile 10k Race for the first time. Burns, a 21-years old, competitive runner, set a brisk pace at first and took the led half a kilometer into the race as he breezed to a first- place finish in 33 minutes and 17 seconds, beating national winner James Warlock by 3.2 seconds. “Ha, beginner’s luck, I’ll get him someday”, said James Warlock. “All I had

At the beginning of my sophomore year, August 2015, I fractured my left ankle. My second season of cross country had just begun. The whole team had a Saturday practice at Atlanta Memorial Park. We came to this park for a time trial. Not being able to run was going to be a challenge for me.

On a good day you 're mediocre, on a day like today, you 're horrific. That race, and the world-shattering heartbreak that followed, forever changed the way I saw running. I discovered that even hard work is not always invincible at the hands of fate.

The kids would scream, and off we’d go. At the time, I was a sweaty, brown-eyed five-year-old, the youngest of three sisters, with one goal: to beat my older sisters to the front of the concession stand line. The distance from the bleachers to the licorice and lollipops was equivalent to a one-hundred yard dash. I remember my little legs took off sprinting. I was winning (at least I think I was), running faster than my sisters.

As I enter school the next morning, I spot Haze right inside the door waiting for me. “Hey Wes, nice job in practice yesterday. I can see that you’re becoming better in your running. Plus it was the longest run we have done so far, and probably will be doing all year.” Like usual, I don’t know how to respond to Haze, I don’t think that I’m a good runner, but she always continues to encourage me.