I Am Bismark

here is something i threw together for my freshman writing class. it is meant to suck:

The Day I Became a New Man

Many years ago, I was a young man who wanted to be someone special. Looking through my catalog of talents, I chose to more fully develop my running skills. So, I joined the middle school cross country team. This continued on up until my senior year of high school, where I found myself on the varsity track and field distance squad. On one particular day, I was warming up to get ready for a race. One must understand that this was not just any other race. This was a race to determine if I had really become what I had always desired to become. This is what I thought as I warmed up before heading off to the starting line. I had been sick for the entire season up until that point. It was hard to believe just how poorly I had performed, even though I was a senior. In my senior year, my peers and I felt that I should be running at my peak performance, which unfortunately wasn’t the case. I went through the typical warm up routine, though my heart seemed to want to jump out of my chest as I did my stretches. I slathered on the Icy Hot pain cream as was the custom at the time, and I also downed a few ibuprofen, a bad habit that carried over from previous years of bad knees. But even as I attempted to stick to routine, I couldn’t help but think that today was different. So as I toed the line, a flood of thoughts rushed through my head. Was this going to be just like every other race so far that season? Or was I going to be able to push through this rut and really prove myself as a runner? I knew that only time would tell as the official told us to be on our marks. Then I heard the gun shot and off we went like a pack of cheetahs. The initial excitement wore off as the 6 of us (this was a small race) came up onto the second corner. It was then that I had to start making decisions. My body ached from head to toe, begging me to slow down, even though we had hardly reached the ? mark. But then I saw my coach’s face as we flew by the starting line, concerned, and yet with a glimmer of hope in his eyes. I knew then that I would not give in to my weaknesses any longer! My legs screamed back at me as I pushed ahead of the others. But this time it didn’t matter. I pulled away from the slower, less driven competitors, and I took a dominant lead. The fans cheering on the sides seemed to blur and all other sounds besides my breathing faded out to nothing. I was all alone on the track, essentially running a race against myself. It was no longer about beating other people, but beating my own weakness, my own inability to achieve. As the laps flew by, I fell into what we runners like to call “the zone.” I no longer felt anything. I might as well have been floating along 2 feet above the ground. But, as all good things do, this feeling came to an end as reality came crashing back at about the 6th lap mark. Thankfully, by this time the race was already in the bag and it was only a matter of finishing things up. The last two laps flew by and I saw the finish line looming ahead. As I crossed the line, the only thing I could think of was, “I did it!” My coach ran up to me cheering and whooping, showing me the time on his stopwatch. I started taking off my racing spikes as my friends and teammates gathered around, patting me on the back and congratulating me. But really, I wasn’t listening to any of them. It didn’t matter what they said anyway. It was about me and my achievement. It was about how I had finally done what at one time seemed so far out of reach. This was truly a great day in my life I thought as I slowly put on some heavier clothing and started out on my cool-down. I did a few laps around the outside of the track and savored my victory. I would never be the same person after that. I looked to the future with confidence and excitement. I had achieved what I had always wanted to achieve. I was a new man!