Personal Narrative: Pole Vault

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It’s day two of Nationals, 93°F and my eigth even of the decathlon. I tie the thin, yellow laces of my spikes. My mind refuses to wander away from what’s next, pole vault. Pole vault is my absolute favorite thing in the world, but here i’m left to my own. I’m in Houston, TX while my coach is all the way back at home in Billings. As I began to warm up in the most conventional manner as possible, just going through the motions making sure i’m limber, I begin to question what is to happen. How will I hold up to my competition? Can I really do this on my own? I rub my hands down with chalk and begin my warmups on the runway. As I run I feel the dry chalk against the tape at the top of the pole, holding it tightly but making sure i’m not tense. …show more content…

My coach back home told me to not just go to the very top of it and don’t do anything we hadn’t done before. I take a shot at 11’ 4”, I go up feeling forceful and robust but I could not get up high enough to go over it. It happens again, now I only have one more attempt or i’m out. I sit down while the other athletes vault. Contemplating all the different ways I could do this. Finally I come to the conclusion that i’m going against what my coach told me, against common sense, and even against my better judgment. I take the 14 foot pole out of my bag and begin to balance it in my hands, the weight and balance feels so odd that I realize it’s a foot longer and that’s a lot higher up in the air that I could go. The higher I go the better my height, or the worse it’ll hurt when I fall. I take the pole in my hands which are sweaty but so covered in white chalk that it doesn’t matter, I see nothing but a red rubber runway and bar in the air. I can feel and almost taste the sweat coming down my face. I force myself to start to run. Everything's quiet, all eyes on me. I go up, do the usual motions but make myself push harder against

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