I am a track runner. Last year I showed extra strength and determinability at my last meet. It was the freshman/sophomore county championships, and my coach had me running the 400 meter sprint, like usual. I was the fastest 400 meter runner freshman on the team, so I got seeded pretty high. I was in the third race out of about twelve. I went up against five other runners from varying schools.
I looked at my competition and started getting very nervous because they looked very fast. We were waiting in the grass as the other races before us were backed up. I stretched out my legs so that I didn’t pull any muscles. I looked around and everyone else was doing the same. Then they lined up the first race. I knew that we would be lining up very soon, so I took off my training shoes, and put on my spikes. Everyone except one person in my race did the same, which made me feel a little more confident. I looked at the starting line and saw the second race line up. I knew I only had about a minute before it was my turn. I watched the race before me run their lap and thought to myself “I’m going to be doing that in a minute too.” I watched them cross the line and then they called my race.
I was relieved to see that I was assigned lane number 3, which I felt I did best in. I circled around and gazed at the red-ring which I was about to traverse as fast as I could. I am always amazed by how much longer the track seems right before I race. The official raised his gun, and I got myself into my upright starting position. I watched the gun and didn’t take my eyes off of it. Then it was shot; I was running like it was being shot at me. I took the first turn to get in front of the people on the inside lanes. I looked from the corner of my eyes and saw everyone neck and neck, and knew I wasn’t in first. I picked up my speed around the second turn, but so did everyone else. By the end of the second turn, going onto the last straight away, I saw that I was in fifth. One of the guys had taken a huge lead, and I knew I wasn’t coming in first. But I still had energy left to pick up my speed. Fortunately, two of the guys were slowing down and I was able to pass them triumphantly. Now I was in third with one guy right in front of me and about 55 meters to go. I caught up to him and tried my hardest to pass him. Then I passed the finish. We both finished with the same time of 58 seconds; A new personal best. I was extremely pleased with the outcome of the race. Disoriented and tired, I made my way to the bleachers with my team to get a drink of water.