One
Bad
Birthday
I
am
going
to
write
about
my
first
cross
country
race
and
how
it
went
from
thrilling
and
exciting
too
devastating.
This
year
was
my
first
year
of
cross-‐country
and
I
was
kind
of
forced
to
go
out
from
a
good
friend
Zach
Bruns.
I
figured
it
would
help
tremendously
with
my
endurance
and
speed
so
I
decided
to
give
it
a
try.
The
first
practice
was
one
of
the
toughest
practices
we
had
and
I
immediately
thought
there
is
no
way
I
am
sticking
to
this.
I
had
been
one
of
the
fastest
ones
and
I
never
really
expected
to
be
anything
other
then
JV
but
when
I
realized
that
I
could
run
varsity
I
decided
to
stick
it
out.
It
was
the
day
of
my
birthday
and
also
my
first
cross-‐country
meet.
My
adrenaline
was
rushing
and
I
didn’t
feel
nervous
at
all.
I
just
thought
to
myself
just
get
it
over
who
really
cares.
It
was
as
hot
as
an
oven,
about
ninety
degrees
with
humidity
and
I
was
sweating
as
I
got
up
to
the
starting
line.
I
never
realized
how
many
people
ran
in
these
races
there
was
a
ton
of
schools
there
with
seven
people
on
varsity
per
school.
Everyone
was
getting
their
stretches
done
and
getting
ready
for
the
3.1-‐mile
race.
As
the
ref,
or
whatever
you
call
the
person
that
shoots
the
gun
raised
his
gun
and
fired
it
my
birthday
was
about
to
take
a
turn
for
the
worst.
I
darted
out
of
starting
line
in
an
all
out
sprint
and
Zach
told
me
to
slow
down
and
not
start
so
fast
but
I
completely
ignored
what
he
said
which
would
be
critical.
For
the
first
mile
I
ran
as
hard
as
I
could
and
I
noticed
about
only
five
other
people
in
front
of
me,
which,
for
a
rookie
was
pretty
good.
I
decided
I
wanted
to
catch
them
also.
I
loved
the
idea
of
being
one
of
the
top
20
to
medal
in
my
first
race.
After
about
the
second
mile
I
began
to
slow
3
3.