It seemed like an eternity until the coach finally blew his whistle, but when he
did, I burst off the starting line and just put one foot in front of the other, pushing as
hard as I could. Feeling my heart pound with each stride and oblivious to my
surroundings; I was in first place. Nothing really crossed my mind as I ran, only
pushing forward off of the ground and breathing as fast as I could. The afternoon sun
was fierce and beating down on my face, blinding me as the sweat rolled down into
my eyes. The salty taste surprisingly did not affect my performance on the track.
Suddenly, my legs felt as though they were strands of spaghetti, uncontrollably
shaking and wobbling back and forth. I thought perhaps I was out of shape and my
muscles were beginning to hurt, but little did I know what was actually happening.
About half way down the track, my left shoelace came undone, whipping my
leg as I ran. Everything seemed to flash right before my eyes in slow motion. The
other girls running behind me slowed down and screamed as they caught their
breaths. I fell heavily, scraping my knee, arm, stomach, and even my face. As soon as I
crumbled to the ground, I found myself automatically trying to get back up. I could
