Running:)

      When I was in six grade I moved to the small town of Epworth, Iowa where I had to make all new friends and start my life over in a big school. My first friend I met was Megan Rauen. We became close and she was welcoming and committed to getting me out for cross country the following year. At the time, I had no idea what cross country was. At my old school, when the announcements were said over the intercom that cross country practice would be cancelled for the night or where the meet was I thought that the team literally ran across the country! I had no idea it was just a two mile race and if I trained right, I could run that far...right?
      So when seventh grade started, Megan persuaded me to go out for the sport. I did not train at all in the summer, but thought that I could train throughout the season. Seventh grade cross country racing did not go too well for me. In middle school there are only a few cross country races per season and most of the seventh grade season I spent walking the meets. I would go out with Megan and we would get tired so we would walk up the hills. Every single race I got third to last and beat Megan to the finish line.
      When track season came around, I knew I would enjoy it more because it was all flat and everyone would be around to cheer me on and motivate me. I ran the 1500m and a couple 800s, but none of my times were impressive enough to be good for high school. When eighth grade came around, I got my best friend at the time, Abby, to go out for cross country. She was a strong shorter girl and didn't train like me. I figured we would run together in the meets. Once the season started, Abby and I would run the whole race and talk, but every single race to the finish line she would outkick me to the finish. I got so upset because I felt I wasn't good enough. So over the winter I put in some miles for track season and prepared myself for a better time.
       As eighth grade track came along, my 1500m times got faster and so did my 800s. My 4x800m team broke a meet record with a time of 11 minutes flat. At the time, this was very fast for middle schoolers and we were very proud of out accomplishments. I knew if I just put a little bit more training in, I could be a good runner.
       The summer before freshman year I realized I probably should lose a little weight if I wanted to be fast in high school. I ran 2-3 miles almost everyday and did abs all the time. I lost around 10-15 pounds and the start of my freshman year I was stuck between the number one and number two varsity runner on the team. My hard work was starting to pay off and I realized that once I get serious in this sport, I love competing and seeing how hard I can push myself.
      The summer before my sophomore year I put in a ton more miles and lifted while taking care of my body. When the season came to a start, I proved to myself that if I train like a beast, I can race like one too. This was my fastest year because every meet I surprised myself of how good I could be. I got the fastest high school girls 4k time of 14:36 and qualified an individual berth to the state meet! The meet that I ran the fastest 4k time ever, Megan came up to me after our race grabbed my hands and said, "When you qualify for the Olympics you better tell everyone that if your friend Megan didn't get you to go out for cross country, you wouldn't be this stud athlete that you are today." I smiled gave her a hug and felt amazing inside for having someone to inspire, but also a friend who was willing to get me to go out for a sport I never thought I would be good at.