Personal Narrative: Running Within

Running within

Sweat dripping off my forehead and into to my eyes making them burn. Each step I take is pain. My feet weigh 100 pounds, my legs are noodles, and my shoulders are tense. It’s becoming harder to breath. With each step of pain yells a voice in my head saying “STOP! GIVE UP!” But I will not because this is a sport that I love and deep down I know I can do this. I can go faster.

It is October 24, a Saturday, the day where I saw more in me. The team and I have just arrived at Tulsa for the Regionals Cross Country Meet. I get off the bus and look around there are millions of people and runners here. My stomach starts to turn and I have to pee because one I’m nervous and two that was a long bus ride to get here. My friend/ running

Then I slowed down but not in my regular pace. I felt something, a new me that was discovered, I felt as if I could do this, that I will not be the 5th or 6th girl on the team to come in like I always was. It was always Morgan who came in first then Kylie, then Kacy right behind her, then Adrian, Cassie, and me all coming in at the same time, then Jacy. When we were a half mile into the race, I was afraid because I was in front of everybody but Morgan that I will burn out, but then I remember what Coach Bokies and Coach Reynolds said to me after practice that week. “Regan, wait we need to speak to you,” said Coach Reynolds after the team and I finish the workout. Everybody else just left me to talk with both of the coaches alone. In my head I thought what did I do wrong, was my form bad, did I miss count how much laps I had left, or something like that. “Regan, we have noticed that you have been training really hard and pushing yourself at practice,” said Coach Bokies. “What is your goal time for the Regionals Cross Country Meet tomorrow,” said Coach Reynolds. I thought about it in my head my personal record was twenty-two minutes and twelve seconds. “I want to be somewhere at twenty one minutes,” I finally said. They looked at each other then looked at me. “Regan, you are going to skip twenty one and go to twenty,” said Coach Reynolds while Coach Bokies nod at her saying it. I gave them a scared and shocking look. “Regan, we both

One important thing was to never give up, to keep pushing yourself so you can see the beauty in running. Another thing was that quote was true; I had a desire to keep pushing, I dreamed about getting a new personal record, and the vision was finishing strong and happy and making everybody proud. Finally the last thing I learned was there will always be somebody there to believe in you but if you don’t believe in yourself then what is the point of you trying? You need to believe in yourself so you can accomplish your goal in