by Will Collett
INTRODUCTION
It is my first time doing track and field. I do have some previous experience of running, but I have never actually done it as a sport through the town/school. This article will be about my experience as a first time track athlete.
BEGINNING OF SEASON
I think it will be fun. I am definitely not the fastest but I’m not really doing it for the meet times. I want to get faster and get more endurance. I will probably do long distance, but I’m not completely sure. I might do short distance but I would rather build up my endurance instead of speed.
After the first week and trying both long distance practice and short distance practice, I can now officially say that I am doing short distance. Long distance is just too hard for me. I can barely keep up with my friends who are doing long distance. I also do not know what event to do. I am pretty excited for my first meet but I have heard they are pretty long. I really hope I’m not sore the day of the meet although I have not really been that sore because of all the stretching we do before and after practice. My legs are mainly just tired after track, but I can just go home and rest them.
MID SEASON
It is very fun, although I am still pretty slow, so in practice it’s hard to keep up with my friends. Although it is very fun, it is pretty time consuming as well, so I would say if you are playing a lot of sports you might not want to do it, but that is your choice. I run the 100M and I do long jump as my field event. At my next meet, I am going to try high jump.
My 100M times are pretty slow and I don’t remember my best time. I don’t know if my long jumps are average or short, but I think my best jump was something around 12’3” (the world record is 8.95 m or around 29 feet 4.36 inches).
Meets are super fun! They aren’t as long as I thought they were and if whoever is taking you home are there you can leave after your events are over, but I like to stay and cheer on my teammates and friends as they do their events. I like watching and cheering on my friends because I feel very proud seeing them get new personal bests, or qualifying for states.
I have a meet tomorrow against Clarke Middle School in Lexington and I hope I can do well in my events and maybe get a personal best time or jump. I just recently got new track spikes (track spikes are a type of shoe with metal spikes on the bottom to help with grip on the track) so I hope that they can improve my performance.
CONCLUDING THE SEASON
I have had a lot of fun this season. I am not so happy about my times and jumps, but I think that as a first timer I shouldn’t expect amazing results. I really liked how I got closer with my friends that already did track, and I even made some new friends. Personally, I feel like I improved a little bit, but I think that if I do it next year I’ll run more often before the season, and maybe pick a different event to do.
Overall, I thought it was a very fun season and I would probably do it again next year. If you were thinking about doing it this year, then I personally think that it is worth it and that you should do it.