The cold air hitting my skin burned, and the headband around my ears was doing little to help. My cheeks were flushed from the chill while my legs were burning both from the temperature and from the effort of the pace I was running at.
I felt as if I was moving through jello. My legs felt like each step would make them give out, and the hill I had just hit was not helping. As I ran past my coach, he shouted something. I couldn’t quite hear what he said, but I knew he was probably screaming the time I was at and the distance from the finish like he usually did. As I went from concrete to grass again on the course, the poorly kept grass made me trip slightly and I felt my ankle roll, but I didn’t care.
I was about to win.
Just don’t let them catch you, I kept saying over and over as I moved closer to the end.
Once I hit the more crowded area, my teammates who were not racing began screaming at me and cheering for me as I came into sight of the finishing shoot. Suddenly I didn’t feel cold or tired anymore.
My teammates were the only thing that could motivate me to sprint. I started pumping my arms faster, my legs still feeling like they weren’t moving as I tried to force them to speed up with my arms. Just as I crossed the finish line, I raised my arms in triumph.
I had just won.
I grabbed my medal and immediately turned to watch my teammates who were running with me finish. As the girls started coming in after me, I congratulated them. I felt the best I ever had after a meet, but it wasn’t just because I had won. Of course, I was incredibly excited about winning, but what really made me feel so great was that all of my teammates had all ran well. I felt more happy over our group’s successes rather than my own victory. Our team finished third in that race, which I proudly led us to, and hearing their improvements and personal wins during the race made me feel even more proud. I didn’t care if I had won that day, what really mattered to me was the wins of my teammates.
I love running, and I love running well even more, but something I learned about myself when I joined my team was that my team’s goals and happiness meant so much more to me than my own goals. I love when I run a good race or have a good workout, as it is exciting and motivating, but it is so much better when my team wins a meet or qualifies to the next round of CIF. When we didn’t make it to state, I cried with the team. When we made it to CIF finals, I celebrated with them. When I was having a bad day and wanting to give up during practice, I told myself to fight through it because they needed me to run well for them so we could win our next meet.
The girls from my cross country team my freshman through junior year were some of my best friends, my biggest motivators and my personal cheerleaders. Their excitement when we won, their smiles when we succeeded as a team or I ran a good race, it motivated me more than any words from my coach ever could. The love I had for these girls inspired me to be my best every day. It inspired me to continue in the sport even when there were days I didn’t want to; I ran for them.
This sport taught me so much more than how to run fast. Of course, it taught me important life skills like how to be disciplined and how to work hard, but also, and more importantly, it taught me how to be a good friend. The sport and my teammates showed me that love is sacrifice, it’s hard work, it’s dedication to being the best version of yourself for your people every day, and it’s doing the best for them. The team also taught me about the importance of having good role models around you to motivate, mentor you, and the importance of having good friends to inspire you.
The lessons I learned from my time with my team will be with me throughout my life. As I turn the page on my time with my high school teammates, I will take the values I gained from my experience with my girls into my time with my new college team. I am so excited for a new chapter of my life with running, but I am even more excited to build a similar bond with the team I will be with for the next four years. I am so happy I get to continue growing as a person in college the same way I did in high school: as an athlete alongside my teammates.
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