Jackie Jay's Senior Project

The breeze, smelling of crisp fall leaves, blows straight into my face. Why should I run today? It is cold out and looks as if it is going to rain. I ran yesterday and the day before that, I did not even cut the run short. I close my eyes, take one last deep breath of the air, listen to my heart beat, and think of all the reasons I should not run. I open my eyes after a few short moments to the road ahead of me. The Nike trainers on my feet take me off in the direction of my run. Slowing with each passing mile, all the outside world’s problems disappear for that lone hour or two. For that short time, I am me.

Running wasn’t always the easiest task for me. It still is not easy. From the first day I ran the mile in PE, I’ve always wondered why people run, and are called runners. I also wondered how I could be like them, to be dedicated in the crack of the morning to get up and start the day, instead of sleeping in and watch Saturday morning cartoons. It was this year, this cross country season that I found out how to be a better runner and what skills and abilities I needed to be a better runner, to be a runner like the ones I have seen running marathons and on the trails. Also, after some extensive research too I found answers.

One of the key things I personally needed to help my running was dedication. Yes, I have ran cross-country for the past six seasons, as with track, but that is not being dedicated. By me competing and being on the team is not dedication to running. To be dedicated to running, one must have the mind set to sacrifice the reasoning and follow the heart. It was not until my last season of cross-country that I became “dedicated’, I found the reason why I like to run and why I do run. I started the season out thinking about times and places that I wanted. I had a goal in my head. While following the weekly workouts as best as my body would let me, I saw no improvement and became frustrated that I was unable to break those times. The sole freshman on the girls’ team, whom I had been running with for sometime, told me that she does not have big goals; she only has small spontaneous ones. Then it hit me, the senior with the past of all the running learned something from this freshman. My next race, I took in mind what she said and not only shattered one of my past goals from the beginning of the season, but also felt happy for how I ran. I did not dwell on the facts of the race that did not go well, like swallowing bugs, but how when I finished I knew I wasn’t going to leave anything behind so I would regret. From that race on, I became dedicated to what my heart wanted for running.

Please be kind to me, this is just a very very rough draft. I know there are numerous typo's in here and I'm sorry about it. In a short while though, you will see my finished product of it, that will be much better than these two paragraphs. Think of this just as a pre-view.