11.20.08

“Rite of Passage” essay

            Running is difficult.

            I learned this fact as a member of the cross country team this past fall. But this wasn’t the only nugget of wisdom that I gleaned from the season. Choosing to join the team and following through with the decision (which I don’t characteristically do) was a challenge that resulted in a small growth in my maturity.

            Running is difficult. It wasn’t every day that I woke up with the eagerness to pound the pavement for five miles. Most of the time, running would be anathema to me. Towards the beginning of the season, I would dread practices almost every day. But each time the day’s run was over, I would not regret my decision to join the team. Every day that I finished a run resulted in a sense of acomplishment, one that was renewed each day. As the season wore on, the loathsomeness I felt before each run lessened, until I learned to enjoy them. The challenge of each fun was justified when it was finished, and this truth has carried over into other aspects of my life as well. It has taught me over and over again that perserverance will reap great rewards.

            Running is difficult. I soon came to realize that I wasn’t the “Flash Gordon” of the cross country team. Each day’s practice would commence when I straggled in to the parking lot, huffing and puffing a good ten minutes or so behind everyone else. Some days I could find a girl to keep pace with, but I mostly ran alone. This humbled me greatly. I knew that I was one of the slower kids, and came to simply accept this about myself. Over time, it didn’t matter to me how much faster everyone else was; the most important thing that I needed to concern myself with was my own times. As I came to this mentality of not comparing myself to others, it helped my perserver in the races, and I was able to finish the last race of the season with a personal best time.