I was introduced to running in junior high school. Here, as part of my Physical Education requirement, I was required to run a mile every Wednesday. At first, I greatly disliked running. I would run out breath after 0.25 miles, and would barely finish the mile at a time of 6:26. Over the course of the year, I started to run around my local neighborhood. These short runs would be 20 minutes, and later in the year, these runs increased to an hour. With these runs, I noticed a considerable decrease in my mile time. In the last run of the school year, I ran a 5:38 mile. Inspired by this 48-second decrease, I continued to run throughout the summer, clocking in 30-40 miles weekly. The next school year was phenomenal. My 5:38 mile dropped to a
