Personal Narrative: My Track Journey

It never occurred to me that one performance could change my whole high school career in running. One single moment of my life changed my whole outlook on sports and life in general, and it happened in the least expected way possible. There was only the slightest breeze in the cool, spring air when I stepped onto the track. I looked at the stoic trees that were standing at attention across the track and exhaled, trying to shake off some of my frantic nerves.. The temperature was beautiful, a classic spring day hovering around the mid 60s. Coupled with the absence of wind, it made for a magnificent day to race, but that fact did little to calm me. The meet was in Champaign, at a brand new red track near the run down, shabby looking school. The
Looking back at it now, the track wasn’t much different than the boring old ISU track we drearily run the mile on in PE, but it just felt right. This was the place I was going to have the most fun while going through unspeakable struggles at the same time. I was about to embark on one of the most influential journeys of my life, a journey of 4 laps around a 400m track. Some backstory is needed on how I got to this point, however.
My track odyssey began shortly after cross country ended. I trained religiously in the off season, putting in an incredible amount of mileage and time into perfecting my craft. After being a varsity member in cross country, I would stand for nothing besides the same varsity success in track too. Nothing would disappoint me more than failing to secure a top spot in the mile. In track, there is indoor season and outdoor season. The indoor season is like the middle child. No one really likes it but they have to take care of it anyways. My first experience in track was an indoor 1600m at the Normal West invitational against my old rival Tyler Dunn of West. I was confident before the race began, and it showed when I ran 4:54, 6 seconds