How I got a new personal record in cross country this season: Every Second Counts!

It was early morning on a cool autumn day, and I was surrounded by a little over 100 girls stretched out all along the starting line. Middle schoolers from 6th to 8th grade, wearing brightly colored uniforms were getting ready to start the final cross-country race of the season. I took a deep breath and looked over to my cheering teammates for encouragement; I was ready to give it my all. As I stood there, the girls around me suddenly became quiet as we heard the words, “ready, set….” A few heartbeats later, there was a loud “BANG”, the starting gun shot and the race began.

All at once, the girls to the left and right of me started sprinting to get ahead of the other runners. There was a little bit of pushing and shoving, so I quickly moved over to an open gap in the swarm of girls. I felt like a gazelle, leaping past runner after runner.

As time progressed, I hit the 1000-meter mark feeling strong, having passed a shocking number of girls. The 3000-meter course was two laps around the THPRD recreation complex. The distance didn’t seem like a lot until I was halfway through the race and getting tired.

I remember turning a corner on the second lap and running past the boys on my team. When they saw me, they started cheering me on from the sidelines which greatly boosted my self-confidence.

A couple of my 7th grade friends hollered, “Don’t let those girls pass you!” and “You got this, Kanako!” I took a look behind me and noticed that I wasn’t as far ahead as I thought.

“This is my last race of middle school,” I thought to myself, “I’m going to make it a memorable one.” I began to pick up the pace.

When I finally got to the last 500-meter mark, there were 2 girls beside me: one from Tumwater Middle School and the other from Whitford. All three of us had the finish line in sight and were determined not to fall behind the others. During the next few hundred meters, we each took turns jockeying for position. My heart was pounding like crazy.

After speeding up a bit, my legs started killing me and my hair was all over the place. The finish line was less than 100 meters away so that’s when I started my kick. The next thing I knew, the gap between myself and the two runners became larger and larger, but I was getting tired.

Had I started my kick too early? It didn’t matter; I just knew that I had to stay focused on the goal. All I could hear were loud bells, parents cheering, and my teammates screaming.

Surprisingly, in the blink of an eye, I crossed the finish line just seconds ahead of the two other girls. I ended up getting a personal best time of 13:33. This will always be one of my favorite memories from middle school. From this race I learned to focus on my goals and not to look in any direction but ahead.

Kanako Wong is a Freshman at Mountainside High School. In her free time she enjoys running, photography, and spending time outdoors with her family.