Personal Narrative: My High School Cross Country Team

My freshman year, I decided to join my high school Cross Country team. When I started running, it quickly became clear that I was not a gifted athlete. I was slow and often did not enjoy the sport. When the season first started, it took me forty minutes to run a 5k. This time was appalling but oddly, it was what kept me from giving up. There were times when I wanted to quit and go back to never running but the thought of that forty-minute 5k stopped me from doing so. I stayed on the team and pushed myself harder and harder every day. When I felt like stopping, I made myself go even further. I came to practice every single day and sometimes I stayed late. On the days that we did not have practice as a team, I ran on my own. I was dedicated