I know that the sports essay is really overused and unoriginal, but it’s legitimately a major part of who I am today. I also feel like it might not be so cliché since I’m not good at my sport (running) and frankly, probably never will be, but I’m still trying. I honestly can’t think of anything that’s had such a positive overall effect on my life.
Feel free to skip over this, but here’s the long story (no, I’m not going to include the entire thing in my essay):
One of my teachers freshman year was a cross country coach and convinced me to give it a try. At that point I struggled to run one mile, and cross country races are three miles. Learning to run was honestly probably the hardest thing I’ve ever done-- I had never pushed myself physically before, and really lacked the mental toughness I needed.
I think this “mental toughness” is the main reason it’s so important to me. I started having mild mental health problems in 8th grade, which worsened when I started high school. My first semester of freshman year was rough for me and I started to self harm. Fortunately, over winter break I was able to get my stuff together and “reset”. Second semester I did way better, mostly stopped hurting myself, and was actually really happy. While running didn’t get me out of that dark place, I know without a doubt it’s kept me from sliding back into it.
So sophomore year I ran XC but struggled, finishing the season as one of the slowest runners on our huge team. During track, I worked hard (relative to my team) and dropped a significant amount of time. I finished the season as a solid mid-pack runner, beating people who ran over a minute per mile faster than me in XC. My motivation and improvement caught the attention of our varsity coach, and I was invited to start training with the fast group.
That summer, I worked really hard. I could never keep up with the other girls, and the workouts were grueling, but I persisted. I was so, so far behind but I wouldn’t quit. Except, I wasn’t getting any faster. Even though I was running probably three times as much as the past summer, my tryout barely improved. I was (trying) to train with varsity and didn’t even make the team on my first try.
Right before school started I was diagnosed with a stress fracture and had to sit out for the first half of the season. Then I wasn’t allowed to run more than a few minutes at a time most of the second half. I ran two races anyway, getting dead last in one of them by over a minute.
Track junior year was less eventful, I missed my goal for the season and felt bad about it, but I know my training wasn’t where it needed to be. Now I’m doing summer training for XC, which has been also fairly uneventful, but who knows what’ll happen this season when I start racing.
Anyway sorry for the giant wall of text, but that’s why running is so important to me. I want to use some elements of this story for my “Tell us about the most significant challenge you’ve faced or something important that didn’t go according to plan. How did you manage the situation?” essay (MIT). Thoughts?