There are so many ways to answer a such a simple question. As with everything else, everyone has their own way to answer this question, but for me its been a long journey. One filled with many mental mind blocks, personal records (PR’s), and sore muscles.
For me, it started as a task in a high school gym class and having to run the mile once a month. Most of my peers dreaded that day, but I looked forward to it. Not the competing part, but noticing how my mind would wonder and the mile would be over before I was ready to head back to reality. At this time in my high school sports career I was strictly a volleyball guru. I had played since 5th grade on school teams, rec leagues, and select club volleyball teams. I lived for volleyball.
As junior year of high school rolled around, I went to volleyball tryouts as I had done my previous two years. This time was different. I no longer found joy and excitement playing, I was good and an asset to the team but I was tired of always being yelled at by a coach or other teammates. It was becoming too competitive for its own good. So, once tryouts were over I decided to deny my spot on the team and totally switch sports. Thus ending up on the Women’s Cross Country team. Little did I know what I signed myself up for. Cross Country was HARD! I went from running zero miles a day to the end of the season running five to seven miles a day. I loved running in the 5k races and pushing myself to PR. At first, it was hard to push past the mental game of keeping a good pace throughout the race or to stick with the girl in front of me. But eventually it became motivation to PR and look forward to the sore muscles the next day.
As my love for running increased, I continued to run XC in the Fall, train in the off season, and run track in the Spring for the remainder of my high school career. I looked forward (almost)everyday after school to go for a run. It helped me relieve stress, it kept me in shape, and it was my escape from doing homework.
Running is my escape. It’s my way to cope with the things that life throws at me and it was something I forgot about when I went off to college.
My Not-So-Secret Diary 