"There were times I wanted to quit and give up, but she wouldn't let me"

I started running in 5th grade during the YMCA's track season. We had two meets, and you basically compete in every event. Whether it be Long Jump, Shot Put, or the 200m, you did it. You had the option to do "distance events" such as the 400m and the 800m. I would always do those, because well I wanted to do everything. 

The second meet had a 1500m I tried. I took 3rd out of 3 in like 9:23. I guess I surprised people by racing it. Once I finished, one of the other coaches came up to me and talked about how I had heart and should try cross country. I figured why not and decided to attempt it.

I didn't realize how bad that time was until later. Anyways, I get dropped off for my first practice. School has started again, but our middle school is only for 7th and 8th graders, so I was attending it. Instead, I was still in elementary school although a 6th grader. In other words, I had no clue who my teammates were. I recognized names and stuff because at some point they had been at elementary school with me (The grades were 4-6), but I was very shy and scared to talk to people. Anyways, we introduce ourselves before practice. There's only like 6 of us there. 4 guys and two girls. Both the girls were very funny, and giggled among each other. The first girl, Leah, was a 7th grade. I thought she was really cute. She was tall and really skinny, kind of like your prototypical runner. The other, Maddie, was an 8th grader. She was also very attractive. She was lean and muscular. I figured she was talented. 

I wasn't wrong. I'm pretty sure she won every race we attended. Her PR of the year was 11 flat. She beat me by like 3 minutes We finished the season with 2 other girls joining, and 2 other guys. Had another freak boy joined the team (He was running a 10:55 3k) joined our team, she would've been the fastest. Guy or girl. 

I was always really arrogant. Even though I wasn't fast, I still acted like I was a God. She on the other hand, was humble as could be. Girls always raced before guys, so she'd finish her race, watch us start, then run all over the course screaming encouragement. We might've been the ones racing the 3k, but I'm pretty sure she covered more distance cheering. 

She moved up to high school the next year. It'd be two years before I ran beside her again. I didn't know much about how she was doing, only that she was on varsity and broke the freshmen school record, and then the next year the sophomore class record. I would occasionally shoot her a text asking how she was doing, which she'd usually shrug off with an "I'm doing alright, seasons good, wby?" or something like that. Then, I'd brag about a PR or something in the 1500m or XC and she'd talk about how proud she was and then provide extra motivation. 

Coming in as a freshmen, you don't talk to upperclassmen, or so I thought. I skipped summer workouts because I was scared that my previous teammates would haze me or ignore me. You know, those teenage movies about upperclassmen being rude scared me. Finally, the season officially starts, and I have to show up. As soon as I walked in Leah approached me and talked about how happy she was I came and stuff. After a while, Maddie came in and once she saw me, immediately ran over and told me how pumped she was to run with me. 

I thought I'd be good coming in. There were 3 8th graders on my middle school team. The fastest would choose soccer over cross country, making me #1. 4 other freshmen who didn't do cross country came in. There were 6 of us total. I ended the season with the 2nd fastest PR, mostly because the fastest frosh had to transfer schools. Throughout the year, I didn't get to talk to Maddie much. She was training varsity, and not only that, but she was training with the varsity guys. I think, had she been on the boys team, she'd be the 5th best. Oh, and I'm talking about a boys team that went to state. 

I traveled to the state meet to watch her (She took 3rd at districts and qualified) and the boys run. She placed 9th, one spot off the podium. I was so happy for her, and hugged her after. Something about watching that sparked a fire in me. I dedicated myself to running at state. I began training with her and the varsity guys, and it was hell. I only got through it thanks to her and the other boys encouraging me. 

Anyways, the work paid off. I wound up dropping 22 seconds and going sub 5 in the 1500m. Each race I ran Maddie would always run up and tell me my time, and how proud she was. It always made me feel great. I had plenty of bad races, and towards the end I struggled to keep going as I began to get burned out, but she kept encouraging me. 

I trained that summer too. I trained way too hard that summer. My previous PR in the 5k was 20:22, a 6:30ish mile pace. I'd finish the last 2 miles of long runs in that time. I was killing the summer, and finally once summer practices started, I showed our coach I meant business. Our first race was a 3k, which the year before I had gone 12:44 at. I ran a 10:44, and was only 2 seconds behind my ex-middle school teammate (I couldn't touch him back in those days). 

My coach was shocked, I was shocked, everyone was shocked, except Maddie. She hugged me and talked about how proud she was, before she took off for her own race. She never acted surprised by my time, just proud. Like she was waiting for it to happen. This was the trend for the season. My second race, a 5k, I went 18:49. My previous PR was 20:22. I went from the 17th fastest runner to the 5th, and made it onto the varsity squad. 

I got the opportunity to train with Maddie because our times were similar. She'd always poke fun at how I lead workouts, pushing them as hard as I could. She did it out of love, I know. She also warned me of burning out, which I ended up doing. I went from 5th best to 9th, getting my spot taken from varsity as other kids got in shape. There ceilings were higher than mine, and I was burned. My season PR was 18:37, and up until the last 2 races I had broken 19 for all but one. I ran 19:22 and then at districts a 19:11. I cried, because as our varsity team went to state, I had just missed it. Maddie, on the other hand won districts, her first title. 

She qualified for state once again, and I went as an alternate for our team. I felt like our coach no longer cared about me because I wasn't varsity, she explained how wrong I was. I was full of negativity at the time, and she gave me the talk about how that's not doing anyone any good. Although on our varsity team there are kids that don't work as hard and I believe I should be running instead of, it hurts my team. I took it to heart, and stopped complaining. 

My track season was a wash. My first meet, I go for a 7 second PR. It was looking really promising. Then a lung infection took my season away. I couldn't come back. I cried because my teammates were hitting monster times, while I wasn't able to do anything. 

Of course it was Maddie who kept me going. She kept reminding me to keep my head up and commit to the process. It will all work in the end. I may not have had a good season, but I learned a lot. I'm not going to lie, there were times I wanted to give up and quit, but she wouldn't let me. Every time I needed support she was there. 

Tomorrow, August 10th, she leaves at 4:00am to Hawaii. She'll be competing for Hawaii's Track and Cross Country. She got her goal of running D1, and left her mark on me. 

In case you're reading this Maddie, thank you for everything you've taught me, for the endless amount of support and encouragement, and finally for the friendship. I'm sure it's one that'll last. I love and will miss you. 

For everyone else, keep your ears open for the name Maddie Fuhrman, I'm sure you'll be seeing it a lot in the future. 

- @_wwright5 ( William Wright )