What running track has taught me

If I am going to be honest here, I know quite well that a very select few people would find going outside for a run enjoyable.

I ran indoor and outdoor track for eight seasons in high school, including racing on both the sprint and distance teams. While I will not deny that these seasons have been very hard on me, I have also had an incredible time being on the track team.

One of the most important lessons that I learned while being on the team is my ability to push myself excruciatingly hard in order to reach my goals. When I was running in a race, it was hard for me to see others in front of me racing their hearts out while I was behind them nearly hyperventilating from exhaustion. In the beginning of my seasons, I would think to myself while running that these girls would surely beat me. I did not think I had a chance against them. After more practices and pep talks from my coach, however, I was able to find the determination and strength in me that I needed in order to come out on top. Even though this was painful, I would see the gap between myself and the other girls on different teams and find it in my heart to kick it into full gear. I would look at my arms, surprisingly not my feet, and pump them faster and faster until my feet were propelled forward even faster. While this was difficult for the first few meets, I eventually was able to master this concept to my surprise. I used this method to become the county champion one season too.

If you run track you know cramps are the worst pain ever. This is, of course, not including certain injuries such as an ACL tear or breaking a bone. These cramps would come at some of the worst times and be extremely painful. I remember getting them during either races or speed workouts when I trained to be the fastest I could be, and I wanted to walk off the track and lay down until they went away. The cramps were extremely nauseating and I felt like I was not doing my best when I got them. I truly wanted nothing more than to stop but my coach wouldn’t allow this. Just like I did, he wanted me to be my best. He taught me you have to push through the pain and exhaustion to be the best runner that you can be. Although I truly hated it, I did this many times.

Some of the best pieces of advice that you could have ever imagined came while you ran. During practices, I would run with my friends and vent to them about all of the problems that I had going on in my life and although they were tired, my friends would speak words of true wisdom to me in order to help me feel better. I still use their advice today, whether it be about boys, school, or friends and more. It seems as though when we were running, all of the muddled fog that usually clouds their minds during school would dissipate and they would truly understand what I was saying and how to respond to it. Their advice would always help me after practice no matter what the problem that I had was. I have made some of my greatest friends through track and sharing the advice during runs grew our friendships stronger.

If you haven’t run track, I hope that this will persuade you to consider trying it out on a local team one day. You will not regret it.