Patience is Virtue--Andrew

 

Cross Country and Track and Field are what I would like to consider one of the hardest

sports someone can do. The physical aspect of running as fast as you can, for as long as you can

can be quite the challenge, but what I believe to be an even harder challenge is handling the sport

mentally. With that in mind, this narrative takes place during my junior year, 2021 heading into

my Track and Field season. With my Cross Country season just finishing, I was filled with the

feeling of excitement and optimism for what was to come, and the times that I would be running

for my events. The team and I would be consistently training over the next few weeks following

winter break and had one of our first meets coming up known as the Ontario Relays. Only a

select few qualified for this race, and although I was not the fastest on the team, I had shown

significant improvement and strong discipline as I would make every practice that I could on

weekdays, weekends, in the morning or afternoon. Now matter what, I was putting in 100%

effort into my training. This was enough for my coaches to acknowledge my efforts and

surprisingly I was able to qualify for this notorious track and field invitational race.

So by this time it is around late February and the race is finally here! This is it I thought

to myself, the moment where all of my training and hard work pay off. Now, with my event being

just moments away I lined up on the track and got ready to run the 800 meter (this is equivalent

to ½ mile). Since it was a relay race I would have to wait for my teammate to hand me the baton

as I was the second person running out of four members for this particular event. The gun goes

off and my teammate is off to the races. Now all I do is patiently wait for them to complete their

two laps around the track and then it would be my time to shine. As my teammate approaches

me, I slowly start running and transfer the baton from my left to right hand, just as I had

practiced many times before in preparation. Within seconds I went from experiencing

nervousness as the anticipation had built up, to experiencing excitement and determination as I

was seeing how fast I could possibly run trying to support my team, and help us score.

As my turn was coming to an end, now my next teammate was up to receive the baton

from me. I made a final push in the last stretch of the 800 meter race and successfully handed my

teammate the baton, and as fast as I had the spotlight on me, was as fast as my time in the

spotlight had ended and the light now shined on my teammate. As I proceeded to walk off of the

track, one of my coaches told me the time that I had run and although it was not the greatest

time, nor was it what I had hoped for, my team and I currently sat in 3rd place and hoped to

clinch the spot as we would secure a podium spot in an event that was highly competitive filled

with great teams from various cities. With my final teammate currently running his part, my

fellow teammates and I were cheering for him as loud as we could hoping that we were able to

secure good enough scoring placement for our school. Finally, the race had ended and to the

looks of it we had gotten 3rd place and were all happily celebrating as we would be receiving

medals for this accomplishment. This event not only provided me with a great memory but also

provided a chance for my team and I to get closer as one, as we had officially started off our

Track and Field season, and boy were we off to a great start!

Following that race, it only motivated me more to continue to train and to trust the

process of it all. With many more meets to come I thought to myself, this is going to be a great

season not only for me but for my team. So now some time had passed and it was mid-March

with one of our next few track meets coming up. So, like always the team and I went to do our

mile warmup right before our practice run had began, but as I was running with my teammates

one of them accidentally bumped into another runner, causing for the person directly in front of

me to abruptly stop, which caused me to stop but in doing so I had rolled my ankle. Right away I

had felt the pain and discomfort and had to stop running for the moment. I just brushed it off

though telling myself the feeling will go away and that it means nothing. I continued to run that

day in practice as well as the rest of the week and once the weekend had come it was time for

another race. This time I would be running the 1600 meter (this is equivalent to 1 mile) and the

3200 meter (this is equivalent to 2 miles) which wasn’t anything new to me so I was ready for

the challenge. My first race was up and I had run a new personal best, but wasn’t the happiest

with my time. Nonetheless the two mile would be up and I had to switch my focus to that race.

The time had come and I was now up to run 8 laps around a track which would be an ultimate

test of endurance, strength, and having a strong mentality. In this event, I had also run a new

personal best and was happy for myself but also relieved that I had finished racing in all my

events and I could go home and rest.

After some much needed sleep that night I had woken up feeling refreshed, but as soon as

I went to get off of my bed and my feet hit the ground, the pain of my ankle instantly came back

and had transferred to my left foot. I immediately started limping and had to take the day off

from running. After a couple of hours of resting and doing little to no physical activity I told

myself that I would only feel this way for a little bit, but tomorrow or the next day I would feel

back to normal. The next week came along but the pain and discomfort was still there. I had to

take my practices easy but couldn’t participate in the effective training that would help me

continue to improve as the season progressed. Due to this, I sadly did not qualify for any more

invitational track meets and would only be participating in league meets for our school. Although

this made me feel sad and unmotivated, at least I would be able to still race as it would only be a

matter of time until my injury healed…or so I presumed. The nagging pain and discomforting

feeling in my left foot had been lingering for what now had been two weeks and the next race

was approaching. Looking back at the situation now, it probably would have been beneficial to

sit this race out as it would have provided time for my foot to fully heal, but at the time my only

priority was still being able to race and do the best with my little training that I now had to rely

on.

Obviously, this did not work in my favor as my times were slower than I had wanted

them to be, but yet I still participated in every league meet that season, but with the same result

of my times decreasing or at least not improving for the moment. The injury now had lasted

about a month and at this point all I could do was sit out of practices completely and watch my

teammates run feeling discouraged and the worse that I had been feeling since joining the sport.

With the month of May now approaching so was the end of track season as one final race

remained. I couldn’t finish my season on a bad note. I thought to myself, I have to compete one

last time. This is what I exactly did, as I hopped on the team bus for the last time that year with

my team and had to desperately hope for the best as I was now only running about 2-3 times a

week at an easy pace. For one last time I would be participating in a track meet as a junior in the

1600 and 800 meter race. But, sadly I did not have a fairytale ending as my last race resulted in

me running my slowest times that season. Feeling at an all time low I was disappointed, angry,

sad, but ultimately in disbelief as I had started this season with such high hopes being able to

compete in the exclusive Ontario Relays invitational, to now running my worst times yet

questioning if I should even continue with this sport.

Nevertheless the season had officially ended and now I completely took time off from

running or doing any physical activity for that matter. I waited, and waited, and waited, for my

injury to go away and finally after 33 days of not running at all, my left foot had finally healed

and I, once again, was able to go back to running again. At this point it was towards the end of

May and school was coming to an end during this time I took the time to personally reflect on

this experience as a whole and what had come from it. Now that I was able to run again the

passion I had for this sport had finally returned and with it,I had learned a valuable lesson.

Although it may seem tough, it may seem unfair, and at times it can feel detrimental no matter

how tough times can get, it always does get better. I was in such a state of despair just waiting to

feel better and even though it seemed like an eternity for my injury to heal, in the end everything

did work itself out. So I conclude with this, whenever you feel like quitting or find yourself in a

situation that doesn't necessarily treat you right, as long as you persevere and hold on to any

hope and faith you have, it will get better and things will work itself out.