I joined the track team in 7th grade after i ran the presidential fitness standard for the mile in gym class. Little did I know, that beating the presidential standard by 6 seconds makes you the second slowest kid on the team.
But it was fun to be on a team and do my first organized sport. Up until then I'd just been in afterschool programs and played in the neighborhood. I improved a lot in one season. My gym class mile was 7:05, my first time trial on the team at the start was 6:41 and my best time by the end was 6:11.
I remember at the end of the season we did some longer runs, like 3 or 4 miles and I was able to keep up with the faster kids who usually were way ahead in races and workouts. Also I remember there was a big invitational at the end of the season and I got to go along and run the 400 because no one really wanted to run it. I remember there was a guy who was faster than me who didn't get picked and I asked the coach about it and the sense I got was that I seemed to care more and was worth keeping around. The 400 itself was awful and beforehand I was too nervous to form any words.
I knew I wasn't good relative to other kids in races but I liked being on the team and doing practice and improving. Anyway, I was told a few years ago that I should write down my running autobiography so I guess this is a rough sketch of a start.
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