My favorite sport is also one of the simplest sports: I love to run. You don’t need any special equipment to run, no bats or balls or uniforms. All you really need is a good pair of shoes. I began running when I was thirteen-years-old, going out for about twenty minutes on a dirt path near my house. At first, it was hard. I couldn’t catch my breath and my legs felt heavy. I pushed through these first runs, though, and soon it became easier. My lungs and legs adapted and I was able to run farther and faster.
There is something really special about a good run. You feel strong and fast, and the world glides by – it’s almost like flying! Running is an excellent way to see a new place. Whenever I travel, I go running and I always discover many surprising things. Sometimes I find a new neighborhood, or some historic buildings, or even a garden with pretty flowers. Running is also a great way to get to know someone. I’ve had many long and deep conversations while running with a friend.
When I started high school, I joined the cross-country teams. Cross-country is a sport in which you run a race every week that is 3.1 miles, or 5 kilometers, long. In these races, the course is usually one big loop. The course can be on roads, trails or grass. Sometimes they’re hilly, and sometimes they’re flat. Every day after school, I met my coach and the rest of my team in the gym for cross country practice. We would do warm-up exercises and then do our running workout. Our running workout was different every day. Sometimes we would go for long, slow runs, and other times we would run intervals, which are when you run a short distance as fast as you can, repeatedly. We would go to practice and run races all fall, trying to get faster. At the end of the fall, if we were fast enough, we might get to go to the State Championships, and race against all the fast teams in New Mexico.
Cross-country wasn’t always fun because some of our workouts were really hard, but I really liked it anyway, and I wanted to get faster! Every weekend, when I ran I race, I would try to beat my PR, which is your personal record, or fastest time. Sometimes I set a new PR and sometimes I didn’t, because sometimes races go well and sometimes they don’t. How your race goes is affected by a lot of factors, including how well you slept before, if you’ve eaten enough, if you’ve had enough water, and even the weather. If it’s really hot, it’s hard to run fast!
One year, my team took a trip to go to a big race. It rained all night before the race. The next day, there were giant puddles all over the course. When we ran the race, we splashed through puddles, soaking our shoes and covering our legs with mud. We had so much fun – it was like playing in the mud as a kid! I felt really good that day and even set a new PR.
I really enjoy running because spending time exercising and being outside makes me feel good. I also love the challenge of trying to get faster. Running has taught me important lessons about perseverance and hard work. I’ve graduated from high school now, so I don’t run cross-country any more. I’m still running, though, and don’t plan on stopping!
Discussion Questions:
Why does the author like running?
Do you like running? Why or why not?
