Please let me know whether or not this is a good topic. Is it cliché?
With the message being: Hard work doesn’t always yield the results that you want, but that doesn’t mean you stop working hard.
In the essay I would reflect on my experience as a 3-year JV XC and t&f athlete. I would explain how it was difficult for me to adapt to running because of my competitive nature and lack of talent in the area. I would discuss how, at first, I was discouraged by the huge distinction between my performance and that of my other teammates, but later learned to set aside the unrealistic standards that I held and progress at my own rate, valuing individual improvement and growth rather than comparing myself to others. I would also discuss how I developed an appreciation of the sport for reasons other than “I’m good at it” — which had been the story of a lot of my early academic career. I’d relate this principle to other aspects of my life as well, writing that the things that impassion us do not necessarily have to be what we have a natural aptitude for. Basically, although we may not be able to achieve perfection in a given field, it shouldn’t discourage us from pursuing it with every ounce of our being.
I’m not an expert, but I think it completely depends on the tone you set and on how well you execute it.
I think it can be well written.
But you’ll be “one of the essays about not making a team”
Do you ever run 5 or 10 K races for fun or is all of your running for your school? Because I think the types of people who come in the bottom third of these races are such an interesting group of people. Old, young, often pretty non-athletic looking people. I’m pretty amazed that some of them can finish. I think that your interactions with those kinds of people would be more interesting to write about then the “high school classmates who are all better than you.”