My Father’s Hug

By Michelle Smith

It was the spring of my seventh grade, and spring meant one thing to me: track season. Let’s just say it was quite a while ago, however I remember like it was yesterday. I can remember the butterflies that wouldn’t stop fluttering until I had crossed that finish line, and the heat from the track as I would position myself in the starting blocks. I loved (and still do) all sports, but most of all, I loved the thrill of running to beat the clock. I always thought of myself as a sprinter however there wasn’t anybody on the track team that was willing to run the one-mile race. The coach decided that I would be a good candidate to run that race and I said “Sure”. I’m not someone who would say no to my coach, even though everything in my body was saying “Are you crazy?!”

The track meet that I am taking you to would be the All-Conference 7th grade track meet, and I was entered in the one-mile and in the 100-meter dash; something that isn’t done very often. You tend to be sprinter or a long distance runner, but not both. I will be honest and tell you that the 1600 was not my favorite and not one I excelled at. The sprints (100, 200, & 400) were my favorite and ones that I thought I was great at. My parents were always very supportive and on that day, dad’s encouraging words of, “You can do it”, “I know you and you always do great”, and the ever famous, “Go get ‘em!”, helped ease my nervousness that I tried so hard to get rid of. However, those butterflies and the lump in my throat that felt like a softball, would not go away. So I tightened up the laces on my running shoes and took off to the starting line of what I thought was going to be the longest mile in history. The race seemed to go on forever, and though I didn’t win, I did finish 4th and that was fine with me.

I now felt I could focus on the race that in my heart and mind I thought I could win. Don’t get me wrong, I tried and I didn’t give up on that mile race I ran as hard as I physically could. My legs were not long distance legs. After the

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