Never Be Discouraged

Never Be Discouraged

It was another meet on another Thursday. This week’s meet was at Alamo Stadium, one of my favorite stadiums. It has a horseshoe shape that gives you a genuine stadium feel with the all-around effect. The track highlighted the place with its bright maroon color. Since I was competing in one of the first events, I went down to the in-field during the first heat of the 4x1 to warm-up. Morgan and I grabbed some hurdles for the team to warm-up with. I have no idea what went on, but I wasn’t doing so well. My trail leg, the leg in the back that glides over in a dog’s fire hydrant position, kept on hitting the hurdles and my steps were slightly off.

Unfortunately, the last call for 100 meter hurdles was called and time to check in.

“Brennan, Holman!” the official called and motioned me to my spot.

Already nervous, I start shaking my legs to alert my muscles as I wait for my heat to start. Bang! The first heat fled from their blocks and a girl fell flat on her face. The second heat goes and another girl falls. Now, it was my turn to fix my blocks and wait for the gun to go off. As always, I do my pre-race pep talk in my head, and smile when I look down the track. Ready. Set. BANG! I take off and attack the hurdles. I wasn’t doing the best, but at least I was neck-and-neck at the front. That was until I fell after the second to last hurdle. I didn’t give up though; I got right up and finished.

Dionisia, the teammate I was neck-and-neck with, asked if I was okay and guided me to the trainer to get my turf burns taken care of. I had 2 major skid marks and a bruise. Usually, I get upset and don’t feel like talking to anyone after a bad race, but not this time. Instead, I couldn’t wait to tell my coaches about it. After I got my burns taken care of, I immediately went up to the stands to find my coaches.

“Coach, did you see that?!” I excitedly asked Coach Benhalim.

“No, I just got here from the boys’ meet. What happened?”

“Well, I was...