So the first thing you may say when reading this is wait, track and field and cross country are both running, they’re the same sport. However, they are very different. Track and field has a lot of field events such as long jump, shot put and javelin. Track also has sprint races and most of the events are shorter than cross country.

To start with track and field, this sport was relatively new to me. After I stopped playing baseball in 4th grade simply due to lack of interest in the sport, my elementary school just got the funds to start a track and field team. It was the spring of 2011, and me and my brother along with a few friends did track together. We had one practice a week, and I remember after my first practice I was so tired I was sore for a couple of days. Now during this time I had no clue what event I wanted to do in track, so i ran the 800, or two laps around the track, and ran the 400 and 200. I also tried long jump, which I wasn’t very good at. During the three running events I tried, I was pretty bad at them. I wasnt fast at all, and would lose every race. I eventually would run only 4 times, and thought wow I kinda like this sport and decided to do it again.

In middle school, this was where I decided that I was a distance runner. I had previously done cross country and liked it a lot so i decided to do distance events. I remember the first mile I did that year wasn’t too too bad because of the stamina I had from basketball. 6th-8th grade track was pretty much the same old stuff. I had practice, ran 4 miles and 4 800s every year, and liked running. I don’t remember too much about middle school track, but I do remember in 8th grade I had ran a decent mile time in the last race of the season. It was at this moment I would want to do track and field in highschool.

Freshman year of track I started doing it in the winter. My middle school never had an indoor track and field team, so this was really new to me. I didnt expect much this season, but I did run a couple of times. There wasn’t really any opportunities for me to run races since I was a freshman and I was not as fast as the people on varsity. So the only thing I really cared about was just training and practice. It was during this time where I would only focus on runs and workouts, and just raced to the best of my ability. Indoor races also felt really weird, and they made my mouth the dryest it ever has been. It was at first a lot harder to breathe indoors, and I didnt really like it. My fastest mile was around 5:32, and I knew that I needed to improve drasticly in order to have a chance to compete heavily in the future. So I decided to do something that was pretty dumb. After the season, I didn’t run for a month and became the laziest I ever was during my track and field career. Well, this would for sure hurt me and it did the next track season.

Outdoor track and field season my freshman year had a rocky start. My first practice, I could barely run a normal 35 minute run because I was nowhere near in track shape. The first month was a drag, and my shins hurt at an all time high because I went from running 0 miles a day to 35 miles a week. I also went on vacation during spring break at this time, and came back and ran my worst race of my highschool career. I ran a 5:44 mile, and though ” Oh my I need to start getting my stuff together.” So, that was what I really did the rest of the season. Each race I improved slightly, even if it was just a little bit. I focused on sleeping better, drinking more water and stretching better. The hard “get back into shape grind” was starting to pay off, and eventually the last race of the season I ran a 5:22 mile. I felt so good that day, even though it felt like it was 1000 degrees out. I looked up and was so hopeful, because I knew I had my first serious time to run bymyself and improve. The summer was where runners make their jumps, and this was where I made mine.

Winter track my sophomore season was probably my favorite season of track I ever ran. After a very very successful cross country season where I had made the jump I needed to make, I knew I was in for a big season. The first race I felt like I was the most mentally prepared for in my life. This was because I had nothing to fear if I did bad because it’s the beginning of the season, and if I did good, it was a double bonus because I would see how far I improved. Well, did I improve. I had cut of 16 seconds within 7 months, a small time gap for a runner. I was so excited that day and I knew right from the beginning this season was going to be the one I expected. After the big pr in the mile, I ran a bunch of 800s, even though I wanted to run the mile. I also did start to run the 3200 meters, or 16 times around an indoor track. At first I really did not like this event and only ran it because I was forced to. I ran a 10:50 my first try, and didn’t enjoy it. I did get my chance to run a mile eventually, and had one of the best races of my life. I ran a sub 5 mile, a big mark for someone who is improving. This race made me feel like I actually achieved something for the first time in a sport. I of course wanted to run faster but in the meantime if i never ran again from this moment, I could say I ran this time. I only would go on to improve in the mile by two more seconds this year, but I was able to run one of the biggest races of my life. I was called up to run in the state race. I remember being really really excited for this race, even though I was going to have to run the 3200. I improved and ran a 10:41, and was done for the season. This season was one of my favorite seasons simply because of all the good and hard work translated into something that I did not even expect.

Spring track sophomore year was a season where I looked to improve but not improve a lot. You make your jumps in the summer, not inbetween seasons. So during this season, I ran a bunch of meh races. However, a few stand out. I ran my best ever mile on a four man relay team. I went out in the first lap in 70 seconds, then the next lap in 75. On the third lap, I started to really slow down and was thinking during the race, Just Finish. I came through in 79 seconds, which meant I needed a big lap. My coach was yelling at me to go faster and all of a sudden, adrenaline kicked in. I started to gain so much energy and just ran so fast it felt like I was flying. I came through and handed the baton off to my teammate and was exhausted. My coach looked at me and said new pr!! I asked what time and he said 4:55. I knew that at that moment, next year I could be really big in the season and was thrilled. My team came in 5th place out of 20 teams that day, and the meet was amazing. However, my best year of track was coming to an end. I did really poorly in our conferences in the 2 mile, cramped up and ran 11 minutes in the two mile. My coach wasnt mad at me at all, ‘he just said i needed rest and to look forward to next season. So that was exactly what I did, and the summer I increased my training.

Junior year track was the most disappointing season. During the first month, I started to feel pain in my knee. I shaked it off at first and though oh just stretch a bit more. Eventually the pain became so bad I couldn’t run. I had to go get an xray, do a few tests, and I had tendinitis in my left knee. I was going to miss the next 8 months. This honestly made me feel pretty sad as what I was working for over the past two and a half years was going to have to be put aside for some time. I hated not being able to run with my teammates and at practice, riding the bike for a certain period of time was boring. During the month of January, my coach told me he wasn’t going to race this season, and I kind of figured that one. During this season, I started to really see what life was like outside of track. I started spending more time with friends, more time on myself, and even more time exploring other things. This season was a long season, with many downs and only a few ups. The only thing that kept me going was the fact that I knew I had an opportunity to be good again next cross country season.

Spring track the next season was miserable. I didnt race at a lot of events, and the ones I did were bad. I ran my worst mile since freshman year and honestly thought of giving up. I really started thinking, man, is this honestly even worth it anymore. All the work I did was simply ruined because of one small injury, and it made me feel like everything I did was for nothing. During this season, I remembered I had about one good race, and that came towards the end of the season. I ran close to my mile pr, which meant that I was on track to become better for next year. This race was simply one of the only reasons I even looked forward to summer practices and the next season.

Senior year winter track was the season where I think I decided well, see how you run and if you don’t improve it may be time to call it quits. I remember during this year the only reason I even did it was because I had a bond with my teammates that was unbreakable, and during times I showed signs of improving. However, reality hit me and I was not running fast or improving. During the end of the season too, I started to develop early signs of tendonitis in my right knee. I told my coach, and my season was ended.

Senior year spring track I went to the first two practices, had knee pain and pretty much decided to call it a quits. I knew it was the right time to put track behind me, and I was thankful for everything it did. It taught me so much over the years, such as how to actually dedicate yourself to something, how to keep pushing, and how to be mentally tough. I knew during that moment I was forever thankful for everything that track gave to me and wouldn’t have done anything differently.

Cross country has made an impact on myself and has changed me forever. Cross country is really a sport that starts to make you realize in the middle of the race you’re in say to yourself, “Why am I doing this?” Some of the most fun experiences that happened to me came because of cross country. I would say I am definitely a tougher person mentally because of how hard I pushed myself when I was running.

I first started doing cross country in the sixth grade. The previous spring I had tried spring track and liked it enough to try and do cross country. I remember it being very different from track, as the distances were longer. I enjoyed practice as me and a few friends would run. However, when my first race came, I thought I had done enough to prepare myself. Well, I was pretty wrong. I came in way towards the back of the pack, and felt really out of breath after my first race ever. I was really disappointed with myself, and got frustrated easily. The rest of the season was better, as I improved. The rest of middle school cross country was pretty much like the first season. I would go to practice once a week and race about six times a year. I never really was dedicated to the sport as I never ran by myself or did anything else to really improve myself. I wasn’t even sure if I wanted to do it in high school. With a little bit of help from my dad friends, I decided I would do cross country in high school.

Freshman year of high school cross country I didn’t know what to expect. I didn’t run on my own and went right into the first summer practice. It was hot, and I didn’t hydrate as much as I should have. So the first practice we did something called cruise miles. Cruise miles are where you just run a mile, have a short break in between, then start the next mile. I remember I could only run two miles, and during the third I was told to stop because I was running too slow. I knew that it was going to be hard and I would be better next season, so I wasn’t stressed at all. The first race went just like the first one of middle school. I was slow, and didn’t do anywhere near as good as I wanted to. I felt terrible, but knew it was still early. The next race however, I ran a huge pr (personal record), and built off of that each race in the season. Every race I got better and cut off around 30 seconds on my times in the freshman races. I went from running around 10:00 minutes for 1.6 miles to 10 minutes. After the last race of the season, I knew that I would be more than prepared for running cross country since I was going to do winter and spring track.

In the summer of 2015, this was where I really became serious about running. I previously would run about five to six times a week while training with the team. However, this summer i decided to do the same thing on my own. I started doing 35, 40 and 45 minute runs on my own. Sometimes I would even do 75 minute long runs on my own which is not that easy to do at all. I really wanted to improve and I could feel myself getting faster. The whole summer I had no stress of races and enjoyed running. So when the first race came, I did so bad I instantly became frustrated. It was only a duel meet, or in other words a race where you run against a few schools. I knew I had a race in a few days, and eventually prepared myself for it. It was an INSTANT success, and I ran a huge pr. That was eventually what would happen the rest of the season. I would pretty much only run prs and have good races. I ran a personal best of 18:09 and my season was over… or so I thought.

I eventually received a text from my coach if I wanted to run in a race in New York that was called regionals. I immediately said yes, and was so happy that all the hard work had paid off. I trained for two weeks where I probably trained some of the hardest in my life. I was with a small group of people and eventually race day already was here. The first half of the race was all uphill, and I felt so exhausted at the end that I ran only 18:47. However, if you convert the time to I ran to the course I ran an 18:09 at, I would have ran 17:47 on that course. I was so excited with this season and knew that everything I did really paid off. Of course I continued to do winter and spring track and field after this. Eventually came next summer, which meant cross country was back.

In the summer of 2016, I kept on running like I normally did. I increased my easy runs to around 40-50 minutes, and long runs were the same of normally 70 minutes. This summer training felt longer, and the summer seemed much warmer than the previous one. After a long summer of hard work, it was back to racing season. However, this season was filled with disappointments. I wasn’t PRing, and I had to change my form and shorten my stride a bit. I struggled in the first few races with my new form, and didn’t cut off as much time as I wanted to. I improved on some courses where I previously ran only around high 18 minutes, but did not really improve that much. This season was frustrating and made me really look forward to winter track. My form was taking a lot of getting used to and I struggled a lot. However, after a bad winter and spring season, I was looking forward to the final push of senior year.

Going into senior year, the summer of training was rough. I just did my first full season after I missed a full season from injury during the winter. Missing two to three months of running can really set you back, and it did to me. I struggled that summer, especially during workouts. When the first race came, I struggled badly and was considering to stop running. I was starting to get as mad as ever as all the hard work I was doing wasn’t translating into success. I was sleeping better, stretching more and drinking more water to help for the season. The results weren’t coming in, and I wasn’t happy with what was happening. The next race however, was one of the best of my four years. I went out in the first mile at a normal pace, then the second started getting tired at the 2 mile mark. However, during the third mile, I gained so much unexpected energy and just ran as fast as I could. I started passing a lot of people, and the finish line eventually came. I ran a personal best of 17:45. I truly felt like the hard work that I did came back and worked in my favor. During the rest of the season though, it didn’t translate. My team ended up winning our conference, but I didn’t have a good race. I did grow really close with my teammates during this season, and this season really made me dig down and figure out what I had left in me.

Overall, cross country was one of the best decisions I’ve made in my life. It taught me how to use 100% of what I had into action. There were times where I have never felt so tired in my life, while also I was in the best shape of my life. I made some friendships here that will last a very long time, and made bonds with a lot of people. At times, I really wondered why I was doing this sport, while during other times I was saying wow I know exactly why I am doing this. If I did not do cross country, I would be a completely different person today and would not be nearly as mentally tough as it made me become.

Basketball has changed my life for the better. When I was entering the third grade, my elementary school had a basketball team. The youngest grade group they had was a third and fourth grade team. My older brother already was in the fifth grade and had been playing for two years, which eventually helped influence my decision to play. When I went to my first I immediately loved the game of basketball. Since I was only nine years old, I was able to only play as a guard because I was already shorter than most of the kids at my age. I learned to like the position of point guard as I would set up my teammates and make it easier for them to score. I could also shoot decently as a kid and loved to shoot.

My real love for basketball came when after one practice, my coach told me to go watch some basketball games to study and see how the pros were playing. So I decided to go home that night and I immediately noticed how much fun it was to watch and how good the players were. This led me to asking for NBA2k, a game where I could play as my favorite players. I eventually started following and liking one player and one team, Carmelo Anthony and the Denver Nuggets. This moment here would be where I became a fan of the Nuggets and eventually would watch as many games as I could.

I eventually kept playing basketball up until the 8th grade, where during that year I noticed I became too short for the game I loved. I stopped playing but I still kept an interest in the sport. I would still play with my friends sometimes and would still continue to watch it on TV. During the time I played basketball, it taught me how to show up on time, to keep myself in shape, to work on my game outside of practice and how to enjoy and build a chemistry with my teammates.

Fast forward a few years, I started getting back into basketball a lot again. After a bit of decline from track and field, I started paying attention to basketball on the same level I used to do when I was a kid, expect I really started following it like crazy. All of my friends played pickup basketball, which made me get right back into the sport. However, one thing I noticed right away was I had lost some of the ability to shoot as well as I could, and how I couldn’t dribble as well. Another thing I noticed was I really was shorter than most of the people on the court, and since I couldn’t dribble as well, I had to play as a shooting guard since I could still shoot a bit. This made me realize I need to learn and work on my game on my own. So for the next few years, I’d try and play as much basketball as I could on my own, and the results have been paying off. I can shoot better now, know how to defend better, and can even create my own shot. Even with some odds against me, this game taught me how to stay dedicated to something even when the going get rough.

The other half of what made me fall in love with basketball again was watching the Denver Nuggets. It was the 2018-19 season, and now that I was a freshman I had much more time to watch them. So now was the time where I would watch the Nuggets pretty much every night, even sometimes skipping things with my friends to watch games. The NBA season is a long one with a lot of up and downs, but one thing it sure does teach you is how to remain faithful and loyal to a team you’ve loved for so many years.

Sports have made an impact on my life since I was little. I have grown up watching football, basketball and have always loved running. While I was too small to play football, I participated in organized basketball for five years and organized cross country and track and field for 8 years.