Running track is far from an easy sport. It involves dedication, willpower, and perseverance. I ran track for all of high school, and it will always be the best part of those four years. While I definitely am glad to be out of high school, I often reminisce back to my track days and would give anything to relive my time on the team. I experienced many emotions while on the team, but I've listed twenty moments that all track runners have been familiar with.
1. When you buy a new pair of sneakers and feel like a majestic unicorn running in them for the first time.
2. When the workout your coach created sounds as if it was drawn up by Satan himself.
Hill sprints, anyone?
3. When you're feeling confident because you're in the lead of the race...
4. But then shortly after someone passes you.
5. When your legs feel so sore that it hurts to even walk up the stairs.
The next few days after the first day of practice are always the most painful.
6. When you're running but all you have on your mind is food.
7. Feeling sad when your favorite seniors on the team are graduating.
8. When your coach puts you in the 400-meter race.
There is nothing crueler.
8. The amazing feeling when you PR.
It feels almost as good as winning the lottery.
9 ... And the awful feeling when you're only a few seconds short of setting a new PR.
10. When you're at the starting line feeling anxious and as if every person in the stands is watching you.
11. The rage boiling inside of you when someone claims that track is not a real sport.
One of my favorite things to tell people who say this is "my sport is your sport's punishment."
12. When your coach insists on you running in the snow.
Is this supposed to build character or just give me hypothermia before the meet?
13. When you're mesmerized by the field events and decide to try out for one.
14 ... But then fail at that field event, and are forced to go back to running.
15. That terrifying feeling when you wake up in the morning and realize you slept through practice.
16. When your coach keeps adding to the workout and you're just like...
17. When you get home after a meet and just want to eat and ignore responsibilities forever.
18. The excitement you feel when your coach assigns you to a relay race with your friend.
19. When distance runners and sprinters argue over whose workout is harder.
As a person who ran as both a sprinter and then eventually a distance runner, I will settle the debate: both workouts, depending on their length and intensity, have the potential to be equally challenging.
20. Growing so close to your team that they feel like family.
There were days when I wondered why I voluntarily participated in such a mentally and physically exhausting sport.
However, track taught me dedication, teamwork, and discipline. It is when your legs feel like they are about to collapse in approaching the end of your fifth mile and suddenly you realize you are capable of more than you thought.
To every track runner, cherish your time on the team, and take none of it for granted.
