My First Race

By: Laura

It was 6:34 on a Saturday morning, and I was awake, riding in a bumpy noisy school bus. I was on my way to my very first cross-country meet. I was nervous and jumpy because I had only started cross-country four days before. I was trying to read my book but didn’t get very far and couldn’t concentrate because of the butterflies in my stomach.

When we got to Mitchell, I got off of the bus and looked around. There were hundreds and hundreds of people everywhere wearing every imaginable color of athletic apparel. The rest of the team and I walked over to the spot where we would "set up camp" and set down all of our bags and shoes and pillows and blankets on top of a big green tarp.

I sat down and began stretching my legs out, all the while humming along to "Crossroads." After I had done all of the stretches that I could think of, I stood up and shook out my legs. "Hey Katie! Hey Brianne! Let’s go on a warm-up jog."

We then got a copy of the race map from our coach and began slowly jogging around the course. We talked about lots of things, ranging from how mean our parents were to the hot guy from Sioux Falls that had just run by. By the time we got back to our camp, it was almost time for the race. I quickly changed into clean socks and tied my shoes. I took off my sweats, shook out my legs, took a deep breath, tried to relax, and headed for the starting line.

Mr. Haar came over to me and said, "Remember what we talked about. This is your first race. Take it easy. Don’t be too nervous. And remember when the gun goes off you say, ‘Hey, that was the gun. I had better get running’ and then you run. Good Luck."

I remember the nervous feeling in my stomach as I got ready to start. "Runners take your marks!" BOOM! And I was running. I started out slowly so that I wouldn’t wear my self out in the beginning sprint. But gradually I began to speed up. And I began to pass people. I sped up on the big hill and after that tried to keep my pace. I counted my steps in my head. One step, two step, exhale. Three step, four step, inhale. Over and over I repeated that pattern as I ran. I ran around lakes, up hills, down hills, and over a fairway. I ran for what seemed like forever. As I took the curve around the last lake I saw the finish line. It was only 50 meters ahead. I began sprinting, as hard and as fast as I could, which wasn’t very fast because I was already so tired. I finally crossed the finish line after what had felt like hours and hours of running but had in reality been a little over twenty minutes, and the relief washed over me.

I was tired. I was out of breath. But I was euphoric! I couldn’t help smiling as the race assistants took my number and gave me a glass of water and a Popsicle. I felt like dancing and laughing as my coach congratulated me. I walked back to our campsite and sat down as I realized how tired I actually was. After I had put my sweats back on and stretched out my legs, I turned on my headphones and fell asleep watching the clouds overhead.

I woke up at the sound of the gun that signaled the beginning of the girls varsity race. I got up and decided to go watch. I walked back over to the finish line and sat with the rest of the team, waiting for the runners to come sprinting to the finish. I watched that race along with the boys’ varsity race, and then it was time to leave.

We all got on the bus and went to Pizza Hut. We had planned on eating our pizza in the park, but it began to rain so we brought it onto the bus. As we ate our pizza the bus driver started on the way back to Yankton. After I had finished my fourth piece of pizza I sat down and fell asleep thinking about how much fun I had had and what a great day it had been.