When I was in 7th grade, one of my friends said that they were going to run track. I thought that was super cool. I knew that I was fast, so I wanted to do it too. With some negotiating from my parents, I joined the Junior High Track team.
My first year went by without anything too noteworthy. I got better and faster, and I really enjoyed the sport. My second year, though, I became top Dog. As an 8th grader, we were the best (at least in our minds). During that year, I set season records for the team in both the 100 and 200 meter sprints. Despite that level of speed, I was meant to run an entirely different race.
As the season went on, my coach compared mine and another boy's times in our sprints to the other teams in our area. Though we were both fast, it wouldn't be fast enough to get us to finals in the district meet. He suggested that we look at training for the 400 meter. With a little endurance work, our speed could allow us to take home some medals.
So, I got to work. I ran the 400 for one of our meets and started to train with the longer distance kids to increase my endurance. My first 400 time was 69 seconds. That seemed to me to be dirt slow, despite the all out effort that I had put into my race. So, I trained harder, and it eventually paid off. I was able to break the 60 second barrier and take thethird place medal from our district meet.
Since then, I hav set the Freshman record in the 400 meter for our school and have the number 4 time for a sophmore. Unfortunately, I was unable to run during my Junior year due to Covid-19. I presently have a PR of 53.83 seconds from my sophomore year and am looking to set the school record by the end of me senior season.