Prompts:
1)
What would you change about Henry Clay?
2)
What is art?
3)
Pick a hobby of yours, and explain why you like
it.
Prompt #3:
I have many
hobbies, but the most prominent, and most perplexing to me, would be running.
As many of you know, I run Cross Country for Henry Clay, a sport in which
participants run long distances (a 5k for high school) and race each other in
order to score. In practices, we run longer distances, so that on race day, the
distance seems short, and consequently we run it faster. Usually, the distances
we run in practice range from 5-8 miles, occasionally 9 or 10 miles. Along with
these workouts, we do speed workouts such as sprinting up hills and around the
track.
The
question I am often asked, and often as myself, is why in the world I put my
body through the physical labor of running at high speeds for long distances.
Well, to tell the truth, the pain is something that used to drag me down, but
now has become a motivation to finish. But even more than the pain as a motive,
I think the will to finish the run is what keeps me in the sport. I have never
quit a race. And unless I am physically unable to stand, I never will quit a
race. In fact, every race I run, the inevitable thought of quitting comes to
mind, and sometimes I want to give in, but I can’t, I would feel so ashamed,
and so weak if I quit. So I push through it, I push harder than I think I can,
and I keep this mindset until the end of the race.
The
end of the race. The finish. If I had to pick my favorite part about running,
this is it. The exhilaration of the last 200 meters of a race is something
beyond comprehension of someone who hasn’t experienced it. Approaching this
final straightaway, I generally pick out two or three jerseys I need to sprint
out and beat at the end, and then I go. At this point in the race, your mind
kind of goes into a mode that zones in on the finish, and nothing else. Not the
pain, not the crowd, nothing. Then you finish, and you feel miserable for a
little bit. But it’s the feeling of completion after the misery that is so fulfilling.
When you see who you beat, the time you
ran, and if you’re happy with them, you’re overcome with a joy so addicting you have to keep pushing for
it. And if the run wasn’t your best, you push even harder and try to achieve the
joy next race. So, all in all, I’m addicted to running Cross Country.
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