(If this doesn't fit mods, feel free to remove)

Thank you high school XC and track, it's been a great 4 years.

I'm a high school senior in MI, and a couple of hours ago my senior season ended. And what a season it was. During the season, I had a PR streak where I PRed in at least one of my two races every meet, whether it was the mile or 2 mile. My mile time went from 5:34 to 5:24, and my 2 mile time went from 12:37 to 11:58.

However, as noteworthy as my senior accomplishments have been, the purpose of this post is to reflect on my last 4 years, and how I have changed as a person, mentally and physically.

I started in freshman year, the summer after the COVID lockdowns. I was short and socially awkward. In fact, I almost quit after freshman season. However, I found that running was a great outlet after online school, and that it was a great way to relieve my worries and stresses of freshman year. The thing was, I was also not fast freshman year. In XC, I ran mostly 23 minute 5Ks, and in track, sub 6 miles were a dream.

Sophomore year started similar too, but with a major difference. At meets, I noticed a lot of the guys on my team had learned my nickname, and were making an effort to actually know and cheer me on at meets. That helped a lot, as it gave me a confidence boost. In that season, in my last race, I went sub 22. It was then I knew that I had a lot more within me. Track was similar as well, I slowly edged closer and closer to sub 6, and ran the 2 mile for the first time, dropping down to low 13s.

Junior year was my breakout year, and was the year my confidence and athleticism exploded. In cross country, I broke time barrier after time barrier. First it was sub 21, then I went sub 20 three times to make it even sweeter. In track, I went sub 6 for the first time, and would drop my mile time all the way down to 5:34 by the end of the season. In the 2 mile, I broke 13 for the first time, going all the way down to 12:37.

Senior cross season was the sweetest of them all though. There, I broke 19 two times, and ran 19s many times. In track, as stated above, I went 5:20s multiple times and broke 12 minutes in the 2 mile.

Now, I must stress, my team was very good during my four years. For reference, my senior year of XC, you needed to be 16:40s or faster to even sniff the 7th place spot. In track, sub 4:50 would get you top of JV. And I feel like that was what gave me the ability to push myself, by being able to model myself off of other people.

If you are still reading this, then I will end by saying that my favorite part of these 4 years has been the memories. From the silly banter with the guys (talking about all sorts of random topics) to long runs at XC camp, I wouldn't have changed anything for the better. And you know what? This is only the beginning. While I won't say where I'm going, I will say that I will be joining a college run club, all because of these past 4 years.