My school mates used to call me “Slow Light”, as they mocked me for not being fast enough in sprinting. Every time our Sports Teacher would get us out in the school yard for sprinting I was very nervous, because I knew that I would get the worst score. Nobody likes being the last, and for me it was especially difficult since the boys in my class had very good scores, while I was far behind most of them, which inspired them to make fun of my running abilities.
Each time it was my turn to sprint, I used to hope that I would score better than the last time, my results were always the same or worst. For 100 meters my timing was 16:55, and while I could not get a better one, I could easily reach a longer time, which was undesirable. In this time, the other boys were running 100 meters in 14 seconds, 13 seconds, or even 12 seconds and I was not even close. I tried to look at what each of them were doing before they sprinted and during the sprinting, hoping that I could get some hints to improve my own technique. It was useless. As I tried to bend my upper body forward, as I seen other boys doing, my speed would decrease. Then I tried moving my hands more, to help me advance faster, again, it seemed that I was further complicating my running style and my hands were staying in the way of my chestit was tangling. At one point, I remember that I did not want to go to gym class, because I did not want to be embarrassed in front of the entire class. It was not simply an embarrassment towards my class mates, but it was more a personal disappointment. In a way, I agreed with my colleagues who thought I was no good for sprinting and I resented myself for this so much that I did not want to attend the gym classes.
I told my father that I should not do sports anymore, and focus on other classes, arguing that I have some pains in my chest when I was making effort. However, my father knew about my sprinting issue from my sport teacher who told him that I my speed was low. Of course, he would not accept my proposal of giving up sports on the basis of any imaginary chest pain or anything else. He was convinced that athletics was good for me, for my growth and he told me that eventually, I would get better, if I practice more.
This time I was beyond disappointment. I just did not want to run anymore. I disliked the idea of putting my sports shoes on and starting stretching. During this time, the other boys were making fun of me, waiting for my turn to come so that they would start telling their latest jokes about my lack of speed, which was just like the speed of light, but turned off. I felt I was so unpopular because of this, and I just did not want to run anymore. As a coping strategy, I started making fun of myself, laughing at my class mates’ jokes made on me and acting like I was not disturbed. But in fact I was very much affected and I did not want to let my frustration show.
One day, our gym instructor informed us that at the end of the school year we would be examined at a national level for sprinting and endurance running, and we all needed to get scores lower than 15 seconds for 100 meters sprinting and be prepared to run 1200 meters without stopping. This really got me worried. It was not the idea of running that terrified me, but the idea that the others would see how poorly I perform and that I would confirm all the mean jokes about my speed. I especially did not like to see that there were some colleagues of mine who were sympathizing me, feeling pity for me. In essence, I knew that I did not dislike sprinting, just seeing others sprinting me was what really bothered me.
With this knowledge and my fresh and intuitive mind of a 12 years old school boy, I started running on my own in the parks. My father’s words, that I just needed more training inspired me to take this approach. I realized that I was intimidated by others, and that could have affected my performance.
I would wake up early in the morning to avoid the high sun and intense heat, and to also be able to get in school in time. I ran every morning during school days and weekends for three months. My training consisted into stretching, endurance running, sprinting, then some pull ups, squats and abs and at the end of the training again stretching to cool down (CrossFit, Inc. 8). I gave a special attention to the endurance running. I increased the distance every day, starting with 1000 meters and reaching 2000 meters by the end of the three months training program. As I ran for endurance, I would speed up from time to time, while maintaining a constant breath. When it came the time for sprinting, I recorded my timing on my own, using a timer. I worked on my technique, aiming to make big steps, and using my arms to push my body forward.
On my own, I was making rapid progress. I reached from 16:55 to 16:45 in just one week, and this gave me hope. I realized that the endurance, pull ups, squats and abs helped me improve my force and increased my ability to move faster, as I was using better trained muscles. In one month from my individual training, I was no longer intimidated by the reactions of my colleagues when it came my turn to sprint. They were no longer making their acid jokes, seeing me score 15:30 seconds and getting closer to the nationally recommended score.
When the time of the national evaluation came, I was not nervous, because I knew what I had to do to get a good score. I scored 14:20 in 100 meters and I was the first in class in the endurance running. I continued to improve my sprinting score, reaching around 13, but I really developed a passion for endurance running and even now I run for pleasure.
Works Cited
CrossFit, Inc. The CrossFit Training Class. N.d. http://www.crossfit.com/cf-seminars/CertRefs/CF_Manual_v4.pdf. Accessed 30 January 2017.
