Runners stand in your lane…On your mark…Set…Bang. As a runner, more specifically, a sprinter, I am very familiar with this set of commands and sounds. It signifies the start of a race. This is the fun and easy part though. Anyone can marvel at how fast someone runs and how effortless they make it look, but only other sprinters, like myself, know what precedes these races. It takes hard work and practice to gain speed. It can be a pretty painful process for the legs, but it is worth it because I want to be fast. The hard work, practice, and pain are what it feels like being fast, and I am fast. Ever since I was little I’ve considered myself fast. I was always one of the fastest in gym and other sports. It was really when I started track, and …show more content…
Being the smallest school and team there, and also having the least amount of experience there, we were a bunch of minor leaguers playing in the majors. My first race was the 100 meter dash, but I had no clue how fast I could run it or what a good time was. I just knew I had been practicing for this moment and needed to run my race. Before the race I went through my warmups and sprint drills, but felt foolish because the Spencerville and Celina runners did them much better than I did. As the official gave the commands, I got ready and in the blocks. I started to worry that I might fall start though. I did not however, and the gun went off. I ran as fast as I could and somehow wound up in first place in my heat. I ended up in third overall with a time of 12.1 seconds, but I ran the fastest time out of Kalida runners. My hard work in practice was paying off quickly with a little bit of …show more content…
The biggest one was when I made it to the OHSAA Division III State Track Meet as a part of our 4x100 meter relay team. The ultimate goal for any high school sports team is to make it to state, and that is what I and my teammates did. We made it through regionals and saw the season culminating with a trip to Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium. This extended season meant a lot of extra practice, but it was okay with all of us because we were proving that we were fast. Down at state we ran an exceptional prelim race as the baton flew around the track. We had nearly flawless handoffs which helped bring our time down. We qualified as the third seed to the finals with a time of 43.68 seconds. That night we were all so excited that we felt that we were clouds floating through the air. The next day we ran in the finals and achieved something no other Kalida track and field athletes had ever done: we placed at the state meet. We got sixth place and proved that we were one of the fastest relay teams in the state. Sadly, we did not run quite as fast as in prelims, but it was okay because we still placed at state. The hard work and pain throughout the season definitely paid off with making it to the state
I picked up my starting blocks and walked over to the white line along with the seven other girls right beside me. I rubbed the bitter cold from my arms, and took a deep breath. I went to work setting up my blocks, dropping the footholds into the slots that fit my specific measurements. The starter announced that we would have two more minutes to take some practice starts before he would call us to the line. I got down in my blocks, rose up, and finally sprang out of them, just as well as I had been doing in practice the day before. I could not have been more ready for my eighth grade Mid-Southern Conference track meet.
I am a runner. I was selected to be a cross country captain for my senior year and I had set myself a realistic goal of being one of the top five finishers at the state meet in the fall. I never had the thought that I could not do it; I knew I was going to be up there with the best. When the state meet came and I traveled with the team as captain, that race became one of the most memorable of my cross country career but not for the reasons I expected.
As I got back on Loopy I felt a sense of relaxation come over me. I heard the announcer say that my time was 10.1 seconds. I knew that this was a good time and could possibly win the short go at the State Finals. I sat through the other fourteen calf ropers to listen to no other times faster than 10.1 seconds. Not only did I win the short go but I showed everyone that I was someone to watch.
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.
The speed of the runner is very easy to determine. It's only stride length times stride frequency, for example if you travel five feet in one stride and you take three strides per second you're speed will be 15 feet per second. Basic math. Although, there are three different types of stride lengths, takeoff, flight, and landing distance. Takeoff distance is the distance that the body's center of mass is ahead of the toe of the front foot at the instant the back foot leaves the ground. The flight distance is the distance that the body's COM travels while the runner is in the air. The landing distance is the distance that the toe of...
Running. Running has provided me with so many opportunities. I have met so many new people and learned numerous life lessons. My life would be completely different if I had not had these invaluable experiences.
When I crossed the line I had decided that was the hardest and most painful race I had ever ran. Never had the pain gotten that bad, but that made me a little proud because I knew that I had tried my hardest. Brandon placed 2nd and ran as amazingly fast as he always had. Austin made a huge improvement in time and placed 12th. Sean did not do as well as expected but placed 25th. I myself placed 48th, which wasn’t awful. My time was decent. Justin tanked and he placed 56th. 56th wasn’t bad, but was expected to be much faster than me. Coach was a bit disappointed when we finished because based off of what he saw it did not look like we made it out. While we were back at “camp”, Sean pulled up the results on their phone.
One of the biggest accomplishments that I feel I have achieved is being a captain for my soccer team when I was in grade 9 (overseas). Back when I was in Ethiopia, soccer was one of the biggest things we loved growing up. Soccer was the only thing available as a sport in our school, so being a captain of a team was kind of a big deal. My time as a captain taught me a lot of things about what being in a position of power means.
August 22, 2015, a day to be forever marked with blood, sweat, tears, but most importantly, triumph. That day was race day. The day when all my hours of grueling training would face the ultimate challenge. The day where I would be able to identify myself as a runner. There’s only one problem with that—I’m not a runner; I’m a tennis player.
One of my biggest achievements was to be accepted to the Sampson Early College High School. This was an important accomplishment not only for me but also for my family. Getting accept to the early college gave me another chance to start a new beginning in my life and to become a better person among my peers. There were other achievements that were also important to me such as competing at the National Beta Club Convention at state and national where I received three awards. This huge accomplishment has given me the opportunity to express my ideas and talents to other schools across state and country and to proudly represent my school.
In 9th grade, I was nervous coming into high school because of what my cousins would tell me before the school year started. I weighed 110 and 5’6 tall, very small compared to the other students in my class. I had just recently quit football 2 years prior to me starting high school. Even though I wanted to play, every player that played seemed like giants to me. I kept procrastinating on when I was going to join the team, but year after year I slowly got taller and
My first year of high school bowling I was placed on the junior varsity team, as a freshman it was standard. It also gave me valuable experience in how high school bowling works. My second year I was moved up to the varsity team and had a big shoe to fill from the year prior. We were the number one team in our district that year, guaranteeing us a spot in the state tournament. The team had gone to the tournament before, but it was my first time. We could have bowled better, but we did not do that terrible. We knew it would be close for us to go on to the next
If I had to choose one word to discribe me, it would be Ambitious. Ever since I was a small child I have always strived to be the best at whatever I would do. Whether I was playing baseball, racing motorcycles, diving, or even simple games in class I would always try to be number one. My dad installed the mindset of if you’re not first you’re last in my head at a very young age.
I was to run the 100-meter dash, 400-meter dash, and to throw shotput. Shotput and the 100-meter dash flew by, not striking me as too important. When the 400-meter dash came up, I was dreading it. A whole lap?! That was crazy! I got into my starting blocks (I hardly knew how to use them at this point), and waited for the commands. “On your marks. Runners set. BANG!” The gun went off and I flew around the corner. I was full of adrenaline. I ended up winning my heat and getting sixth place overall. I remember getting into the car with my mother and saying, “Thank you for not letting me quit, Momma.” She had to laugh at that, because she had been right, like
The greatest achievement in my life would have to be my success in the sport of football. I started playing the game at the age of eight. It stuck with me throughout my life until now. During a football game there are numerous amounts of dynamic situations to be involved with. There are so many crucial actions that take place in the matter of seconds. In a certain instance in my life , the game had a strong impact on my life. It took place my senior year against our rivals, the best team in the district. That Monday we began preparing for the coming Friday. It was a typical week until I woke up Wednesday morning. I was routinely late for school running around the house. On my way out the door the phone brought me to an abrupt stop. Turning around, I started to sprint to the phone. A few steps into it, I crushed my little toe on the leg of my couch. Face down on the carpet, I proceeded to scream in pain. Answering the phone quickly got check off my things to do list. As soon as I could regain my sanity I hopped over to the couch and forgot about school. My toe suddenly turned black and swollen. It was the worst coincidence that could’ve happened to me. I went to the hospital later that day, where I heard that my foot was broken and I couldn’t play.