Personal Narrative

    It was the first week of my seventh grade year, as I walked out of the gym doors I saw a group of kids sitting around stretching. I went and sat in their circle and as I looked around I realized that I didn't know any of these kids, but soon one thing would bring us all together as friends and team mates. My first day of cross country practice was rather intimidating and easily one of the most difficult things I had been through.

    That day is etched into my memory, I remember Mr. Green telling the team that we were going to run Tomato Loop. He said that it would be a long run, about three or four miles. At the time just thinking about the distance made me hyperventilate. I had never ran more than the mile that was required of us in P.E., and there I was at cross country practice, without any friends, and totally out of my element. Everyone took off running and I went with them. Unfortunately, I quickly fell behind and I was walking before I had even gone half a mile.

    As I was walking and thinking about how much I hated this already, and how I was going to quit and go home, Mr. Green came running up to me and spoke to me for the first time. I don't remember his exact words, but he made me start running again. He ran with me. I came to a point when I could not and would not go any further. I let my jelloy legs give under me and I sat down in the middle of the road. My lungs were on fire and I was on the verge of an asthma attack. Mr. Green looked at me and said, "The first day is hard, but it gets better. You just have to push through the pain, dig, make it hurt. Pain is only in your mind." I looked up at him with my teary eyes, stood up, and started running again. Every time I wanted to stop Mr. Green was there telling me to look forward and pick a spot to run to and if I still needed to walk when I got there I could. Needless to say I finished a good fifteen minutes behind everyone else, but when Mr. Green and I got back the whole team was there cheering me on as I finished.

    That one exhausting day of practice was a whole new beginning for me. I continued to come to practices, and eventually I truly loved running. As the season progressed I became more and more outgoing. I was making friends and everyone felt comfortable together. Mr. Green and Mr. Lee were fantastic coaches that pushed me to strive for the best. There lectures applied not only while we were running cross country; we were friends and team mates off the "field" and we worked hard on our school work.

    Mr. Green and Mr. Lee taught me some of the most important lessons of my life, one of which is: success doesn't come easy; you have to work hard for it. I applied this lesson to my life in many ways, and I still do. It taught me that if I work hard in school, a good grade was likely to appear on my report card, if I worked hard in practices, I would run well in the meet, and if I let go of my social anxiety I could make many friends.

    Coach Green and Mr. Lee are highly accountable for molding me into the person I am today. They taught me valuable life lessons and they broke through my social barrier. That first day of cross country was critical, because had Mr. Green not taken the time to encourage me my life could be drastically different from what it is now.