Personal Narrative: My First Track Team At Emerald High

As a freshman and sophomore, I was a part of the track and field team at my school, Emerald High. I competed in many events, ranging from the 100m dash to the 4x800m relay. I have had many great achievements, like making it to the State Qualifier as a freshman, and competing at the South Carolina state championships in the 4x800m, placing fifth, as only a sophomore. However, along with the wins came great losses. A prominent part of my losses was a sprinter from my neighboring town’s track team. She was an amazing sprinter who was one of the best female runners on her team. We competed in similar events, two of those being the 200m and 400m. Anytime I ran the two events when we competed against her team she was always in my heat, usually in one of the lanes on either side of me.
We had similar running strategies, and stayed very close to each other for the majority of the race, every time being the two lead runners that the crowd would cheer for and that the other girls were trying to catch up to. However, as we would come close to the finish, a gap would start to form between us. This gap widened, with her getting further and further in front of me until we finally got to the finish line, where she would get first place and I would get second. In my eyes, this was a huge failure. It happened every time that we competed, which was often. My teammates were aware of the one sided rivalry, as they cheered me on during the races with knowledge of how important it was for me if I won the race I wanted to be the better athlete and I knew I was capable of beating her. I was always a good sport about it. I would congratulate her on her win everytime. Yet deep down I was angry and frustrated. I would beat myself up inside because I knew my abilities, and I knew that the race could have had a completely different