Today was the day. My team and I have been training our shoes off to prepare for the relay race in the semi finals. Our team is called the Phoenix Flames, we’re competing against the Butter Ducks. We beat them last year too, but for some reason we are competing against them again.

      “Grace, come downstairs right now, or your team loses!”, dad yelled

     It was 1:30 pm and my race was about to begin in thirty minutes, and I still wasn't ready.- I mean, what could I do, my position in the four-hundred meter relay was fourth, which means I am the only hope for my team to win. I ran downstairs to get my team jersey, which was gifted to me by my coach. UNfortunately my sister had the team jersey, thinking that it was really colorful with flames on them. As expected, at the brink of time, I ran up and down to get another jersey.

  Once I arrived at the racing track my team and my coach said our team yell.

“We burn, we rise”, we said

“Ladies and gentlemen, please be seated ready to watch who will make it to the Finals of the relay race, the Phoenix Flames or the Butter Ducks”, the announcer announced.

      I saw my parents through the bleachers waving their poster which read “GO PHOENIX FLAMES”, like wild monkeys, even my sister was continuously chanting our yell, with a pinch of an alarmed look on her face. 

My only answer was “Why?”. 

“CLODP!” went the gunshot, and the race had begun.

While I waited for my position, which was not until another decade, I stood like a frog at my position on the track, cheering for my teammate who ran like the flames of fire.-She was the best player on the team.

Come on, come on, come on, come on, I thought. 

My opponent's teammate had already handed the baton to her, and she ran. The second I got handed the baton, I already dropped as if it was a rock. 

“Pick it up, Pick it up!” my team yelled. 

I did, but instead I stumbled, thinking I had another fifty,thousand meters to complete. I got up, hearing the crowd cheer “Phoenix flames”.

 With that, there was a gush of wind that told me “You got this you can do it”. Following the cascade, I ran like the flames on the edge of wearing out.

My opponent was right behind me, so, instead of crossing the finish line, I jumped over it falling face first, leaving a bloody bruise on my nose. -Thankfully, my team and I made it to the Finals.

“Woohoo! Go Grace”, my coach yelled. 

My teammates followed me to the trophy stadium to receive the trophy

     “And the winners are, the Phoenix Flames!”,the announcer yelled.

While the Butter ducks “booed” us, we gave them a piece of our mind,

     “We burn, we rise!” we yelled again.

Unexpectedly, my team picked me up on their shoulders. Meh, probably I was the best runner? Later that day we ate donuts, played games, even raced against each other for fun, and my sister gave me back my team jersey, but I don’t think I needed it anymore because of the new one being made.- Every year after we win a competition, there is always a new design for our jersey’s all as a celebration for our winning chance to the finals.

The hint of possibility of winning that I gave my teammates was through my stumbling, and how I got up, ran, and jumped. This probably gave them confidence too,- to try not fall again after a fall, because it would hurt you once again.