It was the last race of the year. I can feel butterflies in my stomach.  I decided I needed to do something different this time. On the bus I have my headphones in listening to motivational music and my eyes closed imagining what the the course looks like. I remembered it from last year. The big open field at the start then we would run into the woods. The trees were so pretty when they changed it was like someone painted the leaves different colors.Then you would turn the corner and run on the grass next to the parking lot  there were three mini rolling hills. We did the loop twice. There was a hill in the last 800 meters. The bus ride is bumpy but short. As soon as we got off the bus my heart started to race as I saw the white line. I took a deep breath and walked over to the tent with our team. Our team always does a warm up together but this time was different, girls were running with headphones in and others were silent. I had one of my best friends friends, Kelsey tie a bow in my hair. Every girl on the team had a bow in her hair. It brought us good luck. We walked up to the line, It was an open field. Spectators were lined up on the side of the course. On the starting line there were boxes each team got a box. The box was small four girls could spread across it and the rest of us had to stand behind them.

“ Ladies there are three commands...ready,set and then the gun. Good luck ladies”

The announcer guy was tall and old he had a yellow and red jacket on. He had a megaphone in one hand so everyone could here when he talked and the starting gun in the other hand. He  walked over to the right of the white line.
“ready”
everyone got into place
“set”
I took a deep breath. Bang! All the watches clicked and we all started sprinting to the white line. I got right behind a clarkston girl I normally run with in practice. We ran the first mile at 7:30 min which was faster than I normally run.
“Good job girls work together”

I heard our coach yell at us. I saw she was slowing down but I couldn't I had to keep this pace so I pushed all the negative thoughts out of my head and I had my eyes set on the adams girl in front of me.

“Ashley you have to go now, I know you can run faster” Kelsey was yelling at me. I did a self check as we reached the halfway point. Can I stride out more? Yes. Can I move my arms more? Yes. Can I breathe  deeper? yes. Are my eyes on the girl in front of me? Yes. As I realized this I pushed my body to go at the uncomfortable pace after all this is the last race. I passed the second mile and a few more girls the more girls I passed the more motivation it gave me to run faster. It was the last hill, the last 800 meters to go. This was the final obstacle in the way of me getting my best time.

“Power up it Ashley lets go!” My dad was cheering me on from the sidelines.

I realized I was already in oxygen debt from running faster than normal but I couldn't slow down now. I remember thinking what do I have to lose? I put one foot in front of the other my legs hurt but mind was set on getting a personal record. My eyes were set on a girl one hundred meters in front of me. one last girl I have to pass one last girl. I set my eyes on her back and tried to match the pace she was at. My legs were hurting and my arms were getting tired.  I remember I kept thinking pass her over and over and over again in my head like Dory said  “Just keep swimming”  in finding nemo . I was finally right behind her and with one long stride I managed to pass her. I  sprinted the last one hundred meters and my legs felt like jello. I caught up with her and had 50 meters left to go. Before I could blink the race was over. I did it I pr’ed by two min. I walked out of the shoot and fell to the ground and tried to catch my breath. My dad found me and started walking over to me
“Ash that was awesome way to go kid!”

I caught my breath and walked over to the tent. I realized that I can go so much faster when I have the right mindset.

The day I showed up to our last practice. We did a half a mile on the track it was brisk but short. After that we did active stretching, we all got into lines. I was right next to Darrian and kelsey. while we were skipping down the lane we were talking and laughing. Coach breen came up to our team “okay ladies today is a recovery run I will let your group choose what route you would like to go just tell me where you are going”. I walked over to a group that was normally a couple minutes faster than me.

“ I think i'm going to join your group today” i said

“sure” one girl said in a cheerful voice while other girls gave me weird looks.

I had the mindset that I can keep up with them, i'm going to run as fast as they do. We did four miles that day to downtown clarkston and back. On the way there it was nice I controlled my breathing and looked around at all the pretty leaves falling from the trees. I made it to the halfway point and I realized I was more tired than normal. I was breathing harder and harder but I pushed my legs to stride out more and my arms to move back and forth. I have to keep up with them I can't give up now I thought. I tried not to think about the pain and kept running. We made it back to the school and I was so happy that I kept up with them. the rest of the night I had a smile on my face. I had my best season, and gained a lot of  confidence from these experiences.  Running with the right mindset is like a baby bird flying out of the nest, there a little shaky but with the right mindset and confidence they can fly out of the nest.