Personal Narrative: My High School Cross Country Team

My freshman year, I decided to join my high school Cross Country team. When I started running, it quickly became clear that I was not a gifted athlete. I was slow and often did not enjoy the sport. When the season first started, it took me forty minutes to run a 5k. This time was appalling but oddly it was what prevented me from giving up. There were times when I wanted to quit and go back to never running, but the thought of that forty-minute 5k stopped me from doing so. I stayed on the team and pushed myself harder and harder every day. When I felt like stopping, I made myself go even further. In addition to this, I came to practice every single day and sometimes I stayed late. On the days that we did not have practice as a team, I ran on my own. I was dedicated and somewhere along the way I developed a passion for running. By the end of this season, I had taken over ten minutes off of my time. I made every race faster and faster until the end of the season when I reached a time of twenty-nine minutes. Cross Country taught me that no …show more content…
I attend the Plaza Church of Christ in Sumter, SC. I have been a part of the Church of Christ for as long as I can remember and it is one of the things in my life that I hold most dear. Growing up, I was guided by people in the church who were wiser and smarter than me. They helped me make sound decisions that have affected me in more ways than I can list. Attending church has taught me the meaning of generosity, compassion, and given me strength to accomplish tasks of impossible standards. It has made me truly believe that there is good in the world. Because of religion, I know that, with faith, there is nothing that you cannot accomplish. Being religious is not an easy task. It requires determination and dedication. Sometimes, one must make hard decisions that require some sacrifice; however, none of this matters to me because I know that it will all be worth it in the long