Meet day had come and nerves were racing up and down my body paralyzing me with anxiety. My heart was pounding with excitement about what the days meet would bring. Would I win my races and take in as many points as I could possibly take in for my team? Or would I find myself falling behind and only bring in second and third place metals? As I stood in the infield of the track with my block holder, Kaylynn, at my side I began to jabber on to her about my nerves and how well I needed to do like I always did before my races.
“Kaylynn, I’m so nervous I think I’m going to pee my pants right here and now!”
“Sam, you are not going to do that with me standing right here, you say that ever meet right before you take your place in the race. It’s just a nervous pee” said Kaylynn.
“What if I don’t do well or I slip coming out of my blocks?”
“You know that’s not going to happen, it never has and it definitely won’t happen with me holding your blocks for you” said Kaylynn angrily.
“Oh fine. It won’t happen. I know it won’t happen” I said still fearful.
Finally, my race was called as final call over the loud speaker and Kaylynn and I walked over to the starting line of the 400 meter dash. The four hundred meter dash was my “baby” or the race that I hated to love. I was rarely beaten in that race and I had a reputation to hold up in that race. Holding that pressure on my shoulders made the 400 the race that made my body tremble with nerves. I wanted to do so well and keep everyone happy with me. Then, the starter motioned us to take our places in our lanes and blocks. My heart was beating faster now that it had ever before and my legs and arms were trembling. As I heard “get set” from the starter I heard
“Good luck Sam, You can do it you always do no matter how nervous you are” coming from my faithful block holder that always seemed to be there keeping me sane during meets
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