I started running when I was in sixth grade after my gym teacher told me I was fast while playing a game of tag. He entered me in a city track meet and I loved it.
I've been competing since I was in seventh grade. In high school I ran eight straight seasons of track for Nashua High School South. During my time in Nashua I
collected 17 medals, 23 ribbons and 3 plaques. My coach always told me I ran like a bullet.
I loved competing more than anything else. A lot
people think that running is hard but I think it's a lot easier than learning E=mc2 I now run track for the University of New Hampshire.
And I don't think I could ever live my life without it.
Runner's have their own language. We often use words that other non-runners would have no idea what we are talking out. Some of the words we use are: DNS, DNF, Split, PB, PR, The Wall, Kick, Flats, Spikes, Rabbit, and PRE.
Unfortunetly, a problem I've had has recently gotten worse. I have Compartment Leg Syndrome and I've had it since about my Junior year in High School.
For those who don't know, Compartment Leg Syndrome has to do with the four compartment muscles in my calves. Basically, they are too big for my legs. When I
run on it the thin tissue that encloses my muscles tightens, not allowing my calves to expand like it needs too. This creates a painful burning and throbbing
sensation of the muscle rubbing against my bone and my skin. It causes the nerves in my legs to get cut off from all of the pressure and my legs tingle and fall
asleep. I cannot run for more than 10 minutes at a time without terrible pain. It makes my training very hard here at school. I am waiting to get surgery to
release my calves since it is the only option I have left. I don't want to give up my running, but it's causing problems with my performance.
For less
extreme injuries, Runners often use RICE to manage their injuries.Runners also try to drink a lot of
H2O.
I plan on running for the rest of my life. I am going to school here to become a Journalist. I want to eventually become a sports writer and
write for a running magazine or maybe cover local track meets for a newspaper. I love writing as much as I love running so I figured why not combine the two?
I also think that someday I might like to be a coach of a track team too.
"We run, not because we think it is doing us good, but because we enjoy it and cannot help ourselves...The more restricted our society and work become, the more necessary it will be to find some outlet for this craving for freedom. No one can say, 'You must not run faster than this, or jump higher than that.' The human spirit is indomitable." -Sir Roger Bannister, first runner to run a sub-4 minute mile.
"A lot of people run a race to see who is fastest. I run to see who has the most guts, who can punish himself into exhausting pace, and then at the end, punish himself even more. Nobody is going to win a 5,000 meter race after running an easy 2 miles. Not with me. If I loose forcing the pace all the way, well, at least I can live with myself." -Steve Prefontaine.
"I always loved running... it was something you could do by yourself, and under your own power. You could go in any direction, fast or slow as you wanted, fighting the wind if you felt like it, seeking out new sights just on the strength of your feet and the courage of your lungs." -Jesse Owens.
This is me with my freshman relay team in high school when we went to New York City for the National High School Hall of Fame Coca Cola Classics. We placed 4th.
Also, here is me now, running for the University of New Hampshire.
Running holds a lot of memories for me.