Track | Teen Ink

Track

November 21, 2013
By Robbie Steffen SILVER, Defiance, Ohio
Robbie Steffen SILVER, Defiance, Ohio
8 articles 0 photos 0 comments

Track isn’t just an ordinary sport. The day of meets we wear our really short mesh light blue shorts and our light blue tank tops with a stripe of gold on the sides. My number is 636, which is indicated on the back. Track gets my heart pumping, my adrenaline rushing, and makes me nervous. When I’m at home, at school, or on a trip, I am able to wake up and go for a run. Yeah, I can take a football, golf clubs, or a baseball and bat, but I have to have a team to play. On vacation I’m able to go for a run on the beach early in the morning. The feeling of the cool early morning sand going between my toes is a feeling that I love. In track or just running, I need shoes, a path, and music. I’m able to run whenever I want and wherever I want.

We all get the feeling of good nervousness when it’s the day of the meet. If anybody has played a sport, he knows what I mean. I feel like the day of the meet it’s our time to shine and show people what we can do. For track it’s the official and his gun; it’s the crowd with their blankets, and it’s the runners getting warmed up to run our best.
Track is a sport that is able to get my heart pumping, my adrenaline rushing, and palms sweaty, which happens right before the race. When my heart starts beating really fast, it’s because I don’t know if I’m going to do my best or not do very well. My adrenaline starts to rush when I step out on the track right before the race. As we line up on the line, all I see is the baseball field as the track official raises his gun, and bam I’m off. My adrenaline starts rushing when I’m running around the track just about to the finish line, and my teammates and other people yell, “Beat him, Robbie.” After the race I can barely stand because I ran so hard. The sweaty palms come after the race. As I sit under the big stadium, I get really nervous to find out the results of the race. However, if I come in last I’m not going to cry about it. After the day of the meet, I’m going to try and improve my time. I like running track because I can take it with me anywhere I go.

In the eighth grade, I ran the 100 meter dash, and I had a good feeling about that day. At this particular meet, I wasn’t expecting to win because Anson Lah, one of my teammates, always beat me in the 100-meter dash. When we lined up, there were about six other runners on the start line getting ready to run. The gun fired. I ran. I usually start a little slower and then get faster as I go. During the day of the meet, I was hoping I could beat Anson. That day I ran my fastest the entire way. I was ahead of the rest. I didn’t look behind at the other runners the entire race until I crossed the finish line. “I can’t believe I just won!” Since I had won the race, I smiled, and turned around and watched the other runners finish; Anson was right behind me. I didn’t brag about it. I don’t brag about anything really, but it felt good to beat Anson.
During my career as a runner, my motto that I live by as a runner is “If you aren’t first you are last.” I honesty think it is a great motto to live by. In a race we all know that there can only be one winner. Coaches will always tell us that we are all winners no matter what. After the race we are all winners. It doesn’t really matter if I beat the guy in front of me. It only matters that I ran my best out on the track. Sometimes we just have to beat ourselves. Throughout every single race, I should be able to beat myself by improving my race time. “If you aren’t first you are last,” but just remember that we all can be winners if we push ourselves that extra mile.



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