The second mile marker is getting closer as I run, but the pain in my chest is only getting stronger. Many people write about the struggles or success about their favorite sport, not me.  I’ve always heard sports are supposed to teach life lessons and teach obedience.  As I have grown older, I have found that there are numerous lessons in sports that can be put into real life situations.  As I run mile after mile, I realize life is one big race.  The lessons have helped me tremendously; in fact, my GPA has gone up immensely.  I have used the lessons to push myself to stay focused and to fight the urge to be apathetic.

I have spent numerous hours thinking of the many lessons that fit into daily life.  I found that laziness in sports is just the same as in life.  Laziness can only be broken if the will to break laziness is stronger.  After mile two the finish seems so close, and my will to be great becomes stronger than any pain or weakness in my body.  When running it is so easy to slow down and get lazy, but if the want to do great is stronger than laziness, it is easy to pick up the pace.  This lesson has been proven to me daily, not just when running but in everything, from schoolwork to helping my father on Sundays.   Every day after school the constant struggle of choosing between doing my homework or not comes up. This is where the lesson comes into effect in my life.  I find myself pushing to complete the homework the same way I push myself in the daily workout at cross-country.
This has only made me wonder about athletes.  I think to myself, ‘Do athletes put lessons they learn into life, or do they actually leave everything on the court?’  If only people could see that sports are like the practice for this game called life.  So many circumstances can change and people can only make themselves so much better if they would use their practices in this big game.

One great life lesson I have been taught is this: “sometimes things will get tough and weeks seem so long and unforgiving, but it can turn around quickly.  Keep on pushing one day at a time.”  I begin to slow down after I pass mile one, and I know if I just push a little longer the finish will only be within steps.  This has helped me remarkably. When I would get to school on Monday, I would look forward at the week and think, ‘How can I make it through this week with as little work as possible?’  Now I get to school on Monday and take it one day at a time.  It may get rough on Monday and seem like the week will be tough and hard, but take it one day at a time and push through every day, only good results can come.

When I look back on sports, I’m very glad I played them and will continue to participate as long as I can.  I might not be the best or the athlete that every college looks at, but I have fun every day, not only during the season but also in life.  I hope other students will do the same and take my advice and be the greatest they can be.  If sports are the practice for life, it would be a shame if somebody would never go to practice and go through life never knowing why he had such a hard time in life.