As my tense muscles spring into action, the race starts with hordes of people crowded around cheering. But you don’t notice all the people as you start a race, when you start a race all you can think is……. “This is gonna suck”. And why wouldn’t it? Most people when they start a race, that’s what goes through their head along with how much they wish they weren't doing this. This has to be true for all but the varsity runners who are looking to win. But for junior varsity runners it was “I just don’t want to throw up at the finnish”. That was my mentality going into every race, but when you got to the end every time it was an feeling of accomplishment. When I started high school I was more nervous than one can even imagine, even if I looked ready for school on the outside I …show more content…
I would sing this in my head the whole race and that kept me going. I don’t know why this started but ever sense then when i'm tired and don't think I can go on I just humm that song and it helps just enough where i don't walk.
I ended up sticking with the public school and cross country for those four years enjoying them more than one would admit. I soon enough came to senior year and all I wanted to do was leave though. I wanted to go to college, try some new things out and meet new people. All I had to do was finish this year up and it would be behind me.
As I started my last year in cross country, I was ready for it to be over as soon as it started. Soon enough I was finally at my last race. This is the end, what I have been running for all these years, the final finish line. As we lined up all the familiar feelings started coming back, nervousness, dread, anticipation, but this time there was also
The morning has came it’s race day your heart is pumping you are ready for the announcer to say 10 seconds!!!!!You are talking to your friends before the race and the
When the cross country season started in August I became a mentor for the new runners. I was still a runner but now I was doing my running through my peers. During each practice I would lead everyone in stretching and would follow with encouragement on my bike during runs. The freshman looked up to me as if I were an assistant coach and I knew I had done the right thing in being there every day for
at a race, we want to be the “Go!” that gets people running for life. At New York Road Runners,
that you are not going to make it to the finish, but at the same time the
Sports are not for everyone. I tried a variety of sports throughout my childhood but I was never really athlete material. I am as slow as a turtle and I have little to no hand-eye coordination, but I gave each sport a try. It was truly a shock when I decided to run cross-country since I had no speed whatsoever.
I was so excited to start my new journey in school. I knew that being involved in a sport was going to help me become more confident. Running has taught me how to achieve my goals, be tough; both physically and mentally, and appreciate life. The first week of cross country was difficult.
Growing up, I played just about every sport our small town provided: soccer, basketball, baseball, football, boxing, golf, you name it. There was only one sport that I had yet to embark upon: running; however, during my seventh grade year, I decided to try it out, and it ended up being a great decision. From the beginning, the one thing that drew me in was the atmosphere. All of the older runners on the team really embraced us younger runners, despite our youth and immaturity. As a seventh grade kid not really knowing what to expect participating in a varsity sport, this gesture really meant a lot, and it is one of the main reasons that I fell in love with the sport. I stayed with this sport throughout my high school career, and now that I am older, I have the opportunity of being on the other side of the spectrum. My teammates and I love having the middle school kids on the team, and I try my best to ensure that they have a similar experience to the one I had just five short years ago.
Athletes of all sizes, ages, and genders have at least one characteristic in common. Whether they are professional athletes or beginners, there is a natural sensation before the competition begins. This sensation is stimulated by the athlete’s level of stress, anxiety, and arousal prior to the event. Growing up playing multiple sports there was one piece of advice that every one of my coaches and even my parents gave me. That advice was to not let my nerves get the best of me. Sometimes though, I couldn’t help but fall victim to the level of stress and anxiety I had before the game. As a result of this, my performance decreased and I “choked”. Throughout this paper I will be analyzing what it truly means to “choke”, how coaches can prevent the occurrence of “choking”, as well as providing an example of recent occurrences where even professional athletes have “choked”.
Going into the first race we had not expected much since Susan and I had never run this type of race. There were so many crucial things that we had to remember. It wasn't just to get out of the blocks and burn up the track; there was a baton involved, a certain amount of steps to take, and even a certain way to hold the baton.
It was an escape for me. An outlet for a day's stress. A hermitage for my introverted self to hide in. The other runners would go out with their friends and talk about the last football game or how terrible a teacher was making their life. Meanwhile, I was out there running by myself, taking all the sights, sounds, and smells of the outdoors.
“It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves” -Edmund Hilary. Or so my cross country shirt told me. For 6 years of running cross country this quote was meaningless to me. It wasn’t till my final year of cross country that I realized its meaning, through a self-conquering. For 6 years I was a subpar runner, in the first three years of high school, I was lucky to make JV. However, after my 6th year of cross country, in my junior year that all changed. Alex, a friend of mine who was a sophomore at the time, was in the midst of his personal project (a requirement of the International Baccalaureate program we are both part of). His personal project was to run a marathon, and he asked me to help him train for the marathon. I was happy
I dip my toes in—feels cold. My nerves rise up and spread like fire throughout my body while I watch—while I wait. Stomach hurts. All those butterflies clash and crowd. They come every time that I race—it never fails. There is so much noise—the splash of water, talking, yelling, whistling, cheering.
Breathe out. React. There is not enough time to think in the game of track. If a thought occurs, the chance to win has passed along with it. “Runners to your mark.”
We finish what we start. This was the motto that kept me going during the strenuous training period for a marathon. But prior to that, I must confess, I wasn’t an athlete. I was never interested in playing sports, except for recreational badminton. During gym class, I would walk three quarters of the time when it time for the dreaded mile run. I preferred staying indoors and sitting on the couch and watch movies. The first time I had heard about a marathon training program, called Dreamfar, in my school, I thought to myself, what kind of crazy person would want to run a marathon? Never did I realize, eight months later, I would be that crazy person.