I was freaking out of nerves worse than at any other race I had ever run; I knew this could possibly be my only chance to get a good P.B. (personal best). As soon as the gun fired, I bolted, but not before being elbowed, kicked, spiked, and tripped by the 250 surrounding runners. The runner I always stick with, Vincent, was about 200m ahead of me at the start, this got worried me so I began to dodge my way around runners but was unable to find him again. During the second lap I attempted to conserve energy for the third, but then I saw a familiar head right in front of me. It was one of the Wayland boys, Zach, who I worked with at a day camp over the summer. He had beaten me every race this season and always gloated about it, but that was to be no more. I sped up along the uphill and past him and before I could tell, I was level with Vincent. When the second 1/2 of the third lap came around I began to stride to prepare for my ending kick. I passed Vincent and knew I had to stay in front of Zach. And when I saw the clock say 16:45 as I came down the 150m stretch, I gave it my all and sprinted as fast as I could. I passed through at 17:03, disappointed that I did not break 17, but satisfied with a new PB and that I beat both Zach and Vincent.
Before I knew it every boy on our team had gotten an astounding new PB that night, including some former "scrubs" finally breaking 19.
It feels so great to be back, despite how quiet it was that our captains were not there. I felt on top of the world, but I knew there would be greater expectations to follow in the future.
Me (3117), Zach (2933), and Vincent (3107) on our final lap.
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