"Running has turned me into someone I never thought I'd be"

Ok, i'm going to add to the list of stories where I talk about how running has impacted my life, and this one is kinda long, so bear with me. 

Now growing up I was never an athletic kid; I mean I played T-Ball for a few years but that was about it. Sports that involved a ball never interested me. My dad I'm sure would have loved it if I played football like he did in middle school and high school, but that was never me and he was ok with that. I'm from a small town where football is the big thing; so naturally from my small town, cross country and track was small as well, but I will get to that later.

6th grade is when I made my biggest regret. Due to my shy nature at the time, I went to get my sports physical at school so I could go to Track practice the next day, but chickened out and never ran. Little did I know that I would beat myself up for it years later. My friends did track and that was ok, but I really wanted to be out there with them. Three years later I'm a freshmen in high school and my dad picked me up from school. We drove by the track where the team is out running and doing their thing. I tell my dad, "I wish I signed up for track in time.". He tells me that he can call the coach and work something out because the two are friends, but I just decline the golden ticket. 

The fall of my sophomore year is when I finally made the plunge. The first day of school I made a very scary decision. I walked into the library after school where we were to meet for the first practice was very intimidating, and get this. There were at most 6 kids there, but the shy 6th grader in me told me to retreat while I still could. After a few weeks of going to practice everyday and just putting an effort into something other than playing Pokemon, I slowly began to fall in love with the sport. (But let's be real, Pokemon is important too.) The end of my first season I was awarded Most Improved for dropping my 24:51 5K down to20:52. It felt great, even if it was such a trivial award.

Track rolled around and I made some good progress. I met new people at meets, and let me tell you something. Runners are some of the nicest people you will ever meet. Usually ;)

Time lapse over to now, my senior year, even though a lot of my friends have graduated, I still can't wait to see what this season holds with some new ones. I even convinced a few friends to run and they hate me for it :)

Even if I complain all the time about hating practice and life when I'm running in the 100 degree heat, I still love it. I love being able to challenge myself, and be with my running family. Running has turned me into somebody I never thought I would be, and it is great. Running has allowed me to open up and be myself. Running has opened up doors to new friendships that I pray will last a lifetime, because the people I've met have impacted me more than they will most likely ever know. 

And that, is how running has changed my life. Yes I understand the entire life story wasn't really necessary but oh well.

- Anonymous