Sprint to the Finish

      My high school career is coming to an end in a very different way than I imagined as a freshmen. Four years ago I was still a gymnast. I spent four to five hours a day working at that sport. Many people don't know that gymnastics was terribly stressful and often brought me to the brink of giving up and taking up something else. Something less... five-hours-a-day-ish. I got through freshman year, and sophomore year was a new challenge as I had my first two AP classes coupled with my gym schedule. It was horrible. But I still came to school with the same, if not sleepy, sarcastic enthusiasm everyday. Humor was and still is a way to vent my frustrations and need to be honest, and get a few laughs out of it too. As I entered my junior year, my schedule was overwhelming. I fell asleep behind the wheel and crashed. I fell asleep in literally every class at least once... or everyday (sorry Beckler). It made me question why I was doing it all. Did I really love gymnastics that much. Or was I just doing it for my father who was also a gymnast. I was really good at convincing myself gymnastics was my sport and mine alone. But I really didn't love it. It made me strong and gave me the incredibly useful ability to back-flip at any given time which has yielded so much free stuff over the years its not even funny. In the summer before senior year I decided to tag along at the cross country summer practices. This was the first time I had really done any other sport besides gymnastics. And I loved it. I ran slower than most of the girls team at the time, but I loved it. I was still in gymnastics at the time and I would come to practice already dead tired and my coach would chew me out. But I didn't care. When money became a little tighter, with college expenses looming just around the corner and other expenses cropping up, I decided to tell my father that I thought we should stop gymnastics. At that moment, I realized that gymnastics wasn't my sport. It was my father's. I said "we should stop" for crying out loud. He took it harder than I did. I committed my time to cross country and found that I loved every minute of it. The team was much closer than my gymnastics team. I felt like part of a team for the first time. This was something I chose one my own. It was mine and no one else's. I started senior year with a renewed spirit. I still spent about four hours with sports in the form of running and weight room, but it wasn't nearly as stressful. I often relate my sports to my general thinking. I had regarded gymnastics as the most honorable and toughest sport, and that I was a bettering myself for enduring it. But what I realize is that people must find out what they love on there own, with no one else's opinion. Trust me. you'll be happier for it. The four year race is on its bell lap. This is it. I'm in the final stretch and its the most exciting part of this race. And I think I'm coming out ahead.