Cross Country

I was keen, but I wasn’t going to get ahead of myself just yet. Cross country was only five minutes away and my nerves were getting to me. The tracks I have competed in when I was much younger, seemed easier by far. This year they took it up a notch, we were now going to race 3k’s. I whispered to myself “This is a new year, you can do it.”

As much I wanted to give up on the race, I knew as a year 8, I needed to accomplish my goal for this year of completion. Just when I thought I was running the track quite smoothly, a feeling of exhaustion struck me unexpectedly. I felt sluggish, and soon I was starting to think.... “Is this race ever going to finish?”

Turns out, I wasn’t that far from the finish line after all. It didn’t take me long to notice that my shoes were completely saturated and my legs had been covered in mud. As I saw a few heads, a cheesy grin had appeared on my face, showing a feeling of relief. I was a few steps away of accomplishing what I had feared since day 1 of this year, finishing cross country. I hadn’t felt so good for a while.

Win or Lose? Neither of those mattered to me. I give myself credit for participating in the race and finishing it off properly. I've learnt how to persevere and not doubt myself.