Batul Almasri

Mrs.Lesniak

Period 3

11/23/21

Ready or not

It was already time. I was on the white starting line. The people beside me stretched their long

legs, jumping up and down, as they touched the ground with thier new silver spikes, a section of

grass would rip off. The smell of freshly new cut grass filled the area with excitement. Their

spikes put a hole in the ground ever time they did sprints. Tying my laces felt like a never

ending rope. Three, the starter screams like a little boy looking for his mom. Two, I start

breathing harder. One, I stand still waiting for the gun to fire.

I got a text on my phone reminding me it was the first day of practice as a sophomore in high

school. I put my eighth grade shoes that have gotten me nothing but luck in my green athletics

bag. I ran out the front door hoping I wasn’t gonna be late. I got in the car, my mom following

me shortly after. “Hurry” I kept telling my mom. I was anxious because this is the first day I did

cross country in high school, I didn’t know anyone and didn’t know where to meet. As we drove

into the parking lot, I saw a group of people getting ready to run. They all looked like they were

friends and have known each other for years. I didn't know anyone, not even the coach. I

walked up to the coach thinking to myself, I should not have done cross country. I'm gonna run

all by myself. I heard someone scream, “cross country’s here”! My heart started racing, the
coach looked tall and mean. I walked up to the two coaches,one of them was girl, both of them

looking at me as if I’m a lost dog. They asked for my name and told me to start running the

warmup. The warm up was a ten minute jog. It was not bad in my head, but as I started running

I could feel my legs getting heavier and heavier and soon enough they were heavier then a a pile

of rocks. I reached the group of people running and they started talking to me. I felt included

and knew as the season went by we will be a close team. The ten minutes were over as we

passed the soccer field “Our workout today is a 25 minute jog”, the coach said with a smile on

his face. I was still breathing hard but we started, I was starting to get slow. How can someone

run for this long, I thought to myself. Time has never gone slower. The 25 minutes became 5 as

I started talking to the people around me. “One more minute”, the blonde hair girl said to me.

And finally “Done”! The coach yelled. It was time to cool down. As I finished that, my sister

came to pick me up and asked how practice went. I never wanted to come back that was torture.

I thought in my head. But something inside me wanted to come back. I looked at the calendar

my coach gave me. There were only 4 days until our first meet. It was all going by so quick.

The following day we had a 6 am practice. Who would run this early in the morning?

We started off with a five minute warm up. Some girls even asked me to join their group. After

we finished our warm-up, we did our workout. “Ten laps around the track everyone”. The

workouts would get easier and easier and making friends on the team was simpler than putting

on pants. In that same day all I could think about was putting in my head that I can do it.

As I was running my last practice till the first meet, my coach gave me the

I’m-so-proud-of-you look. I've made progress throughout this week. I never thought a 45

minute workout would make me want to run more. At the end of our practice we gathered as a
team, “This is it girls tomorrow prove to us that all your practice paid off”. The coach repeatedly

said with our Elk Grove cross country flag waving in the air. My coach asked to talk to me after

practice, I can hear my own heart beating faster and faster. My coach looked at me and said,

“I’m so proud of you, tomorrow you're gonna do amazing, just remember running is against

yourself not the people around you”. “I’m gonna make you proud”, I looked up to him with my

eyes widening. I was doubting myself, I had to make sure to tell myself I can do it.

I woke up the next morning at 6 am. I put on my thin green shirt and put my shoes in my

cross country bag. All I could think about was it was me against myself. I got in my car, my legs

were shaking, I couldn't stop them. I finally arrived at the school, my sister in the car with me

telling me I have to get first place. I can’t get first place, there are too many girls. I saw my

coach and my team. I hear the speaker announcing that it's almost time for us to start. I walk out

to the white line. It’s me against myself, I have to get first.

BOOM! The gun fires, “I can do this”. I say to myself loudly without realizing;I was

already on my second mile, I couldn’t believe I was the second girl in the front. If you're not

first you're last. I thought to myself;We were more than halfway through the third mile, I was

still second. I hear my team screaming, “come on go faster you’re closer than you think”. I saw

the finish line and I didn’t think of anything but to run as fast as I could. I sprinted to the girl in

front of me, her face frowned from up to down. I crossed the finish line, my spikes like a knife

scraping through the floor as they passed the white finish line. I was first. I couldn’t believe it.

Everyone was cheering for me. I couldn't believe this was real life.

As we all lined up to get rewards, I heard my name being called, “First place, Batul

Almasri”. I stood up and I looked around me, people clapping their hands together, big hands,
little hands, and even my two coaches. They put the medal around my neck “first place”, It had

written on it. It was all a dream, I couldn’t believe I did that.

I went back home with my sisters. My hand was shaking as I was holding my Starbucks

cup that my sister had gotten me right after the race. I look at the window and realize that I just

won first place, I worked this hard and got to this point. As We arrived at a restaurant to celebrate

my accomplishment. I saw people from the race that came up to me and congratulated me. It

was all so weird, I felt like this was the most amazing thing that happened to me. We did it! I

thought to myself.