Assignment 22: Ally Tripure

It was freshman year on a hot summer evening, the marching band playing in the parking lot, cross country runners showing up for another fun, grueling practice, the sun beating down on us with an unrelenting heat. It was my second summer conditioning practice and I was only just starting to learn my way on a high school sports team. My friend and I clung to each other quickly as two new freshman runners who ran around the same pace.

We, along with the rest of the team, warmed up and began to stretch. My coach walks over to the stretching circle to discuss and announce what we would be doing that day, everyone holding their breath and crossing their fingers in hope that he wouldn’t say those horrible, terrifying five words: “Go down to the track.” My coach decided to be generous that day, giving us the task of going on a long-run.

Little did my friend and I know, it would not be that easy.

My coach looks at the two of us and says, “Hey, why don’t you all go and run with those girls today?” pointing at...at the varsity runners? Now, at the time, I didn’t know my coach very well but after that suggestion the thoughts going through my mind were as follows, “You’re crazy.” “Do you want us to fail?” “I can’t do that.” “Nope, yeah, you’re crazy.” But instead I said aloud, with confidence and a sprinkle of maybe-I-can-prove-myself-wrong attitude, “Okay.”

We started the run, all the varsity girls talking about their summers. Less than half way through the run, I piped up and asked, “Hey, how far are we going?” “Around five miles,” one of them answered. At that moment, I looked at my friend with a what-have-we-gotten-ourselves-into expression but again responding, with a shakier this time, “Okay.”

That run was a blur. I do remember feeling sick, wanting to collapse and give up. I had never run five straight miles without walking and hadn’t planned on doing it that day but with an upperclassman’s motivation and saying, “No one gets left behind.” I finished it, surprisingly, without dying!

That day I proved something to myself and to my coach, who was correct in his choice to send us on that run, I could be up there with the best on the team, I just had to try, push and believe in myself. My coach had only seen me run at one or two practices but he saw something in both my friend and me that had potential. If he hadn’t done that I would not be a cross country runner today, I would have never gained that confidence I now have in my running abilities and probably would have stuck with marching band, which I switched to sophomore year. Five miles sounds like a regular long run day today and has even increased to six or seven miles on a good day. Because of his belief in me, I feel more confident in my everyday life and how I carry myself and my everyday tasks.