Throwback Thursday–journaling at age 14(part 2)

This is a continuation from the journal I kept my freshman year of high school. See part 1 HERE!

Well, I had my first race on Saturday, September 15, 2001. I went ready to run and ready to beat this girl. She had no idea and she did get beaten by me. I came in 21st in 23:09, not that bad. I think I am good at this. I trained with the boys on my uncle’s team all summer and I think that this is a big part of everything. That girl got beat, I was happy, and I had so much joy inside of me. My team took second place and I got my first medal. This was cool. I wasn’t sure what to do next so I worked harder. In my next race my time dropped by one whole minute, 22:09. I was fourth, I like this a lot. We shut out the other team. I remember as I approached the hills my teammate told me to pass the two girls ahead of me. Despite the cramp I had I did. This was the hardest race we would have all season. As I neared the finish I could tell that we won.This was the best moment of my life! In our next meet my time was about the same. After that we traveled to a meet against 4 schools. I came in eighth and ran under 22 minutes for the first time(21:36). This was the first race where I wasn’t in tears but I was distracted. I can be absent minded sometimes. I got lost looking for the bathroom and ended up surrounded by school buses. By the time I got to the line the gun shot. I had no time to worry. I kept my eye on one girl, she was from my uncle’s team. During the race two girls were talking about me. I am a freshman, so much stuff is happening so quickly, I didn’t know these girls. How did they know me? Although it was positive, I don’t believe that they have the right to talk about me. I heard them say what a good runner I was as a freshman, but this still bugged me. I remember this race so vividly. I was closing in on the finish, it was narrow and we were running over stones and then that girl from my uncle’s team made me so mad. She beat me by a second! Despite the fact that she was very kind and that I got along with her well, I decided that this was war. From that moment on she became my most valued competitor and I owe so many victories to her.