True meaning of success.
My freshman year I hated running. My dad made me go out for Cross Country and it just wasn’t fun to me. However I met some really cool people and was able to make friends. Now I wasn’t very good my freshman year. In fact I was pretty terrible. In the 5k I ran a time of 21:57 and it was not looking like I was ever going to be one of the top runners let alone being a key factor the next three years for our team.
Freshman year of track would end up just like Cross Country. In the 2 mile I ran a time of 13:23, and in the mile I ran a 5:58. However sophomore year there was some improvement, I moved up to varsity in both Cross Country and track and was improving at a very impressive level. That year in the 5k I would run a 19:26, in the two mile I would run a 11:00 and in the mile a 5:18. Like I said some improvement. Junior year was the beginning of an impressive run of times. Not only did I run great times but was a key factor in the first ever boys cross country team appearance at state. That year would contain pr’s of 17:50 in the 5k, 10:31 in the two mile and a 5:01 mile pr. Now senior year. I was kind of looked at as “the guy” or “the man” if you will coming into the year. And I was kind of surprised thinking that. I hadn’t really thought about the amount of improvement that I had had over the last couple of years.
Our Cross Country team would qualify for state yet again and we would place 2nd overall. In that race I would set a new pr of 16:59 in what would be my final high school cross country race. However my breakout season was still to come in track. I would qualify for the first time in the two mile for the state meet and would not let my school down.
Coming into the year I wanted to qualify for state but also break 10 in the two mile. Going into the state meet I had a time of 10:02. I was right there, and I wanted it so bad. When I came around the final curve I would get a glimpse of the time I was about to run. And not only was I going to break 10 but I was also going to set the school record with a 9:53. I was on an ultimate runners high for the last three years. However some of my teammates noticed over the last year that I may have lost sight of who I was. I started to go around saying cocky things. But a little time piece from freshman year resurfaced. It contained my goal times in practice. It reminded me of where I came from. Sometimes you can have too much success in your life. This may have been one of those cases. But I was lucky enough to have some great friends to remind me of who I am.
“Success isn’t how far you got, but the distance you traveled from where you started” - Steve Prefontaine. I’m not going to always be known as a great runner but I never gave up. I began to want to improve and I did. The true meaning of success isn’t that you set every school record, or went to state and won state every year of your high school career. It’s about never giving up and finding a way to improve and become a better athlete, person, and leader. I’m running in college at a D2 level but trust me I know and will always remember where I started and to never give up when things get tough. That’s the meaning of success. I never won a state race but I improved a lot.
- Matthew Maki (@matthewmaki22)
