free write

I'm kind of at a loss for words trying to come up with something to write about, so I figure I'd write about something that's been dominating most of my free time since March; track. Anyone who says track is easy clearly has never done it; it's by far the hardest, most challenging sport I've ever tried. But the thing about track that's different from other sports is that its difficulty is based off of your effort alone. In team sports, you work hard to ensure that your team will win, or else you fee like you let all of your friends down. In track, it's all on you. All your desire to win, all the effort you expend on your events is for your own gain. And by the end of the season, the only ones still practicing through championship events are those that worked as hard as they could and never gave up when the workouts only got harder and the temperatures only got hotter. This year was a lot different for me.

Last year I ran distance. The workouts were easy; we'd do long, slow, boring runs around the school pretty much all of practice. It's fun, but eventually it just gets boring. I wanted something more. Track is meant for the shorter events; nobody lines the fence screaming their heads off cheering for the people who run the mile and the two mile. It's the sprints that gets everyone onto their feet, the races that are fast and suspenseful; the events where nobody has any time to slow down, to watch everyone else and to adjust pace. It's all or nothing, no time to wait. I wanted to be a part of those races, ones where I could push my body to go as fast as possible and then be done, not to be in races where I'd have to play mind games and set pace based on everyone else. This year I decided to randomly sign up for the 400 hurdles in the hope of getting out of the 2 mile and to do something more fast paced. Within a few times of running it, I broke the cuts for the MHAL, sectional, and eventually the state qualifier meet. I didn't really like it quite honestly, it was just something I was better at than distance. Eventually, I switched to focus only on the 800 meter dash, two laps around the track. Opening the season I could do it in about 2 minutes and 30 seconds. Training hard with Matt and Eric, I've cut my time down to just over 2 minutes and 4 seconds. Tomorrow, we have our state qualifier meet and will have to run faster than we ever have; but that's just what I love about track. In the end, only those who work the hardest and give their 110% will remain, and those who don't can just try again next year. Once the gun goes off, everything changes. This sports hell, but I love running it with my best friends and pushing my body everyday to try and find a new limit of what I can do. We celebrate in each others accomplishments, and sulk in our losses together. Tomorrow is one of our last trials together until next year, and I don't doubt that we'll give the competition hell.