In the eight years I have been a track and field athlete, I have had the pleasure of explaining my sport to a multitude of people. Not only do they not understand how much work goes into training and actually competing in events, but they also do not understand why people compete in it in the first place!

There are several elements to track people do not even realize.

Practice makes perfect.

Practice goes along with anything a person might do. Whether it's cooking, singing, shopping or pretty much anything you can think of, practice makes perfect. Track is a sport that has a lot of repetition in it. Practices usually run anywhere between 1-2.5 hours per day. That time adds up, making it a minimum of five hours and a maximum of 12.5 hours in a week – not to mention, weekend meets. Being in any sport is basically like a part-time job, but what people don't realize is that track is no different!

Lifting – the dreaded "L" word.

The "L" word comes a lot into play when competing in track and field. Most people would say, "What's the point? All you do is throw, run or jump for, like, 30 seconds, and then it is over." Well, the truth is, it is extremely important. Just like any other sport, if you want to get better, you have to work for it. Do people think a person can magically throw a discus 130 feet or run the 200 meter dash in 26 seconds without doing some sort of strength training? No, they can't. The best feeling in the world is to do something you love and improve on it. Well, weight lifting does have it's trials, and it takes a lot of energy, but it feels great to get a personal best at a meet, and that only comes with hard work.

Miles, upon miles, upon miles.

Running is hard. I know, seems crazy, right? Well actually, it really is. Maintaining speed, consistent strides, leg cramps and muscle aches are all key components of running. To get better at running, a person has to put on miles to build up endurance. Most runners do a thing called "repeats." Long-distance runners will do one-mile repeats, which means you run for a mile and a minute break between each one. Why do runners do it, you may ask? It's because they have a drive to get better at what they love! Yes, sometimes there are aches and pains involved, but once runners hit the point of achieving "runner's high," they can go on forever because it feels so good to know they have accomplished something not many people can.

What it's like on the field.

Along with running, many people forget there are other events that are involved in the sport of track and field. When a person decides to compete in a field event, their time management skills have to become exceedingly great and fast. Missing an event is not an option, unless that person wants to run hills. Not only does the athlete have to do their running event, but then, they have to run to their next event and keeping running until all of their events are complete. It's exhausting! There is always that one person who marks the throw short, making all of your efforts pointless because there is no chance of getting the PR (Personal Record) you have been striving for weeks to attain. When telling people about events, they don't understand there is more to it than running and jumping, spinning around in circles and throwing stuff. For example, the most common reaction from a non-track athlete about discus is, "Isn't that the one where you spin in circles? Then, throw the frisbee-looking thing?" The response usually is, "Yeah I guess so," but there is so much more to it than that!

Track takes so much time, energy and endurance. The non-track athlete will probably never understand how much work it really takes to do track and field events, but they should, at least, take the time to understand a little bit about how much effort truly goes into the sport.