What a Sport Can Teach a Teen
“Success isn’t how far you got, but the distance you traveled from where you started.” When I heard this quote from running legend Steve Prefontaine, I had already known it to be true. It was one of the many things that i have learned from my experiences as a cross country runner. Cross country has taught me perseverance, optimism, and leadership. I consider my experiences as a runner to be just as educational as my time as a student.
When I started running as a freshman, I consistently finished last, at a time of about 26 minutes for a 5k race. Running wasn't easy for me, running was difficult. That is why I worked so hard every season, because I wanted to improve. But improvement didn’t come easily or quickly. Four years later, as a senior, I am still a mediocre runner. Every race, my goal was to run faster than my best time. So it was discouraging when you ran a race as quickly as possible, only to discover you finished slower by a whole minute. I remember junior year I had a conversation with Coach Leuschner after a particularly slow race. “Why have I gotten slower each of my last four races?” I asked him. He explained to me …show more content…
The most difficult aspect of running is staying motivated all the time. In fact, this problem resides in every activity we do whether it's sports, school, or work. Well, I discovered that having a positive attitude is a great way to stay motivated. One day, Coach told us to run up the mountain. Many of my teammates complained, put their head down, and struggled the entire way. Persevering becomes easier when you are optimistic and believe you will succeed. Even though I too was exhausted, telling myself I was closer to the summit than the bottom motivated me to keep trying, and I eventually succeeded. Since then, I have developed a bias toward the bright side and it has helped me through many difficult
“Success isn’t how far you got, but the distance you traveled from where you started.” When I heard this quote from running legend Steve Prefontaine, I had already known it to be true. It was one of the many things that i have learned from my experiences as a cross country runner. Cross country has taught me perseverance, optimism, and leadership. I consider my experiences as a runner to be just as educational as my time as a student.
When I started running as a freshman, I consistently finished last, at a time of about 26 minutes for a 5k race. Running wasn't easy for me, running was difficult. That is why I worked so hard every season, because I wanted to improve. But improvement didn’t come easily or quickly. Four years later, as a senior, I am still a mediocre runner. Every race, my goal was to run faster than my best time. So it was discouraging when you ran a race as quickly as possible, only to discover you finished slower by a whole minute. I remember junior year I had a conversation with Coach Leuschner after a particularly slow race. “Why have I gotten slower each of my last four races?” I asked him. He explained to me …show more content…
The most difficult aspect of running is staying motivated all the time. In fact, this problem resides in every activity we do whether it's sports, school, or work. Well, I discovered that having a positive attitude is a great way to stay motivated. One day, Coach told us to run up the mountain. Many of my teammates complained, put their head down, and struggled the entire way. Persevering becomes easier when you are optimistic and believe you will succeed. Even though I too was exhausted, telling myself I was closer to the summit than the bottom motivated me to keep trying, and I eventually succeeded. Since then, I have developed a bias toward the bright side and it has helped me through many difficult