On the last 200 meters of my 400 meter anchor leg, I’m still 10 meters behind Richard Montgomery. After getting sick of looking at his hideous spikes, I force myself to sprint past him and get to the finish line first. What an adrenaline rush! So for all of those who believe that track is just running around for no particular reason…reality check, track is an inspiration.

My influence for running around in the bitter cold, continuing the tradition of male sprinters in the family, is uplifting, but I don’t run to please my family. I run to push myself above my limit and to increase tolerance for pain.

Most people do not know that track is actually one of the most grueling sports around. The events test your level of endurance and tenacity. Going past my limit gives me the strength and confidence to know that I can accomplish and achieve anything.

As for my teachings, track gives me the willingness to perform extremely well in every event I run, showing my teammates, coaches and myself what I’m made of. Before I joined the track team in my junior year I didn’t put faith and trust into others to get the job done. Track has slapped me in the face with a baton, telling me that having trust in others pays off in the long run. I have to have faith in

my teammates to perform handoffs correctly for our relay times to drop and our “track status” to rise.

In addition, track can very easily become an exhausting, overbearing sport that can bring you down to your lowest point. Every other day of practice we must run grueling workouts. As much as I hear the comments that tell me to quit such as “run faster,” “stop whining” and “suck it up; you’re a senior!” I have to keep encouraging myself not to give up. I have to tell myself that all this work is worth it.

Or as my jolly old coach would say, “It’s all about putting money in the bank.” For non-track fanatics that means that track is about putting in blood, sweat and tears into every workout so during track meets you perform your best.

Track is not like other sports; you have one chance and one chance only to run and show what you’re made of. And that’s why I’m all about track.

I constantly have to prove myself to my teammates and my opponents. As much as I hate it, I am and always will be the underdog. As the anchor leg of the 4×200 meter relay, I have to catch some of the fastest sprinters in the county, the big, buff, diesel sprinters in the county. But once again it’s an inspiration to show what this unlikely, five-feet-six-inches, thunder-thighs of an anchor leg can do. And honestly, it’s all worth it for me to pass or prevent another from passing me in the 4×200 meter relay.

So when you see the WJ track team running back and forth from Tilden Middle School, don’t just assume that it’s a waste of time and that the sport is nonsense. Think about the personal gains it means to us and how the sport itself affects us. Really, without running your sport would be boring.