Running for a Dream | Teen Ink

Running for a Dream

February 23, 2018
By OPC123 BRONZE, Decatur , Texas
OPC123 BRONZE, Decatur , Texas
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

Being competitive is something that ever human being has. The desire to win can be so strong it shrouds and replaces all other thoughts. Any sport, or competition has the elites that only once can dream of being. Through sheer determination and training this can seem possible.


Dedicating five years of a sport seems like a massive amount of time. Except with friends and a love for the sport the time flies. Running and Cross Country isn’t just a sport, but a way to relieve stress. Even in middle school the love for the begins to grow within you. Just like a farmer planting a seed a coach plants the love and desire to run. At first it was simply just a sport that was to be active and have fun. However through time the desire to be one of the best overcame me. Running miles with other makes you want to pass them.


Fass forward two years and once you enter highschool everything changes. You leave this little pond and enter into this great big ocean of runners. It breaths it’s own life and own ecosystem of runners that know each other. Entering such can seem very scary until you simply embrace it and own up to it. I never thought I could reach to that point then fall so quickly without realising it. As a freshman I entered this running world never thinking of being something. Through determination and time I suddenly made my way to varsity, My sophomore year was the best year of my life and ip to today my favorite year, It seemed that everything I strived for and all the effort I put in was finally paying off. The mountain that laid before me seemed captured and I could finally enjoy the fruit of my labor. The Cross Country team seemed like my team not something I was on the side off, but something I was apart off.


This all fell and my whole efforts seemed in vain on the day of Regionals. Going into it we seemed unstoppable we had just swept district and regionals seemed just like any race. However once getting their one of our runners got sick and was unable to run. The atmosphere took a turn for the worst. We had already lost before running and no one seemed to deny that fact. Except we couldn’t let down our parents our coach, our parents, our town as everyone had faith in us. THat day seems like a blur a awful memory that you want to forget but one that makes you who you are. We warmed up like any other race with tension and fear in the air surrounding us. As we took the starting line I looked up at the sun and knew this would be want killed me. Our coach tried to cheer us up and inspire us and I just hoped everything would just turn out alright. The official lined us up my heart was racing and so was my mind . The gunshot seemed to be non-existent then we were off. The race seemed like it didn’t last at all. The crowd was a blur the cheer was all mixed together and the course seemed to devour you. The sun melted you were you stond and the air robbed you of whatever strength you had. As if I had started the race already on empty my feet would not move. I finished and Instantly felt ashamed of what I did. My time was awful to want I use to do that I wanted to hide. The wait for the results seemed like eternity and through that time I asked myself. Did I just let down my team? Did we not make it to state? Could all those months of training really be in vain?


The wait was over and the result were in. My heart skipped beats as I moved towards the podium, but my feet never reached it. I say my teammates dad gave him the look. One that tells you that everything you ever hoped for is gone. At that moment I just wanted to be alone. For the weight of six months of training gone down the drain was to much. I felt trapped in failure and no one could help me get free. As the pain and shock finally settled with my team we realized how little we lost by, Our hopes, and goals slipped through our hands by one point. One measly runner that beat us war the difference from state bound or going home. That was just salt to the wound and a scar that will never heal. However I got back up and started training once again for my redemption. I put in the time and hours, and miles to hope to reach my former self. Except it never happened, and on my second race I pulled my hamstring. Everyone else began to leave me behind and I was no longer part of the varsity team. My team that only last year I had enjoyed. My team that every week seemed to get further away from me. I no longer wanted redemption I just wanted to be as good as I once was. I was chasing myself, my former self that I so desperately wanted to be. This never came to be and I was enraged. Bitter with everyone as if the world had stole something I held so dear to my heart. How could a sport I loved so much seem to stab me in the back? It keeps beating me, but I always come back. The desire to shine and reach victory is something that I crave so badly. Some people may not understand or think i'm crazy but that doesn’t bother me. What does bother me is leaving High School a defeated man. That is something I will not let happen and I don’t care what I have to do. Winning will never not be my goal and my team will be united for we all have the same goal.


Competition is a hateful relationship for everyone who tries to be with it. The results will either please you or hurt you but you never leave it. Something wire in the brain tells oneself to push onward and never give up. No matter how much obstacles are in the way. Anything is possible if all your efforts go into making your dream come true. My efforts are taking my team to state. The odds may be stacked against us but together we will prevail.


The author's comments:

The purpose of this essay is to anaylyze the theme of never giving up. 


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