Who Would’ve Thought?

Co-captains of my high school cross country team (Tsu Zhu on the left, me on the right)

In first grade, I took ballet and quickly realized that I wasn’t as graceful as the dancers I had seen on television. In fifth grade, I took tap and discovered that my feet had a difficult time following directions. In sixth grade, I took gymnastics and found out that I was unable to do a simple handstand. In the end, I quit them all.

However, the summer before high school, I was determined to join a team that I would dedicate myself to. I had spent my earlier years trying new activities, but always seemed to be discouraged after just a few months. When I looked at all the clubs and teams my school had to offer, I found that the only organization that appealed to me was the track team. Running required no experience and appeared simple enough. Without hesitation, I signed up for the team and began practicing in late August.

At my first practice, my coach, Mr. Connor called over the freshman and announced, “Today, you are all going to run a mile and a half.” My jaw dropped. I foolishly did not imagine going beyond half a mile on the first day. A few girls giggled at my reaction, but Mr. Connor assured us that we would survive the seemingly impossible task. Finally, he let us go off into our first run with the team. Though my sluggish pace must have only qualified that mile and a half as a jog, it was a huge struggle getting through it. When we all finished, he asked the newcomers how the run was. “Hard” was the general reply. My coach smiled. “Remember this day,” he told us prophetically, “Just remember it.”

As I reminisce on my first days as a runner, I can’t help but wonder who that freshman girl was. Though I am in fact still Tracy, I can’t seem to identify with myself from four years ago. Then, I was terrified of a mile and half, but nowadays, I get excited to go on six mile runs. I never envisioned myself falling in love with running, but I did. Through running, I have learned that success requires patience. It took me two years to decrease my three mile time by two minutes, but the sweet satisfaction of that accomplishment was well worth my time and effort. Even now, I am still working on decreasing my running times. I am constantly striving to improve as a runner, and my time on the team has showed me that it is possible to go beyond your expectations if you work for it.

Ironically, while my “failures” in dancing led me to running, running has brought me back to dancing. After a year of being on the track team, I realized that there was a lot more to the sport than being the fastest or the “best.” It was more about perseverance and setting goals. With this newfound outlook, I felt empowered to give dancing another shot. I finally got the courage to join dance performances in my school and saw that just as in running, practice and hard work were all it took. I am currently part of a small hip hop dance group, and though I never pictured myself being any sort of a dancer, I know I can thank running for showing me that I could be.