Life is not a competition. Life is about helping and inspiring others so we can each reach our potential.

-Kim Chase

I never knew how much this picture was going to mean to me. This was taken after the 800m finals at the state meet and shows the top 8 (all-state) from right, being 8th, to left, being 1st. I am the only person from my team in the picture but this picture means more now than it did after being all-state.

Almost every person in this photo has impacted me either at the time or further down the road. The person to the right of me (6th) was one of the toughest competitors I had faced ever and became one of my biggest motivations to do better the next year. The next year, he went on to being mr. track and field for division 2 and helped encourage and push me to compete to my fullest. The red shirt in the middle (4th) was someone I only got to race against a couple times but pushed me in every race I competed in. The man to the right of the red shirt (3rd) ended up becoming my future teammate here at Spring Arbor. Max has been one of the people that has made my transitions from high school to college so smooth and has been such a good friend and helping grow as a person and what it means to give your all for your team and for God. To the right of Max (2nd) is Josiah Morse, who at the time had no significance in my life. As the years have gone on, I have gotten to know him past running and so how awesome of a person he is. Every meet he will come up and talk to me as though we had been friends for years. Although most of the talking is running based, I don’t mind because it’s fun to have a friend that can relate to your fun and struggles. To the right of Josiah, (1st/state champ), is John Groendyke; my mortal enemy… kind of.

To get to state, you must compete at a meet called regionals and be in the top to finishers in an event at regionals to advance to the state finals. John was in my regional, and as you can see since he’s a state champ, he was very good, but I wanted to beat him more than anything. I knew that he was the favorite to win state and wanted that more than anything. At regionals John barely outlined me, but instead of winning the race, I won his respect. After the state finals race, out of everyone that ran, including his teammates, he came and found me. He hugged me and said that I would do great things and that he really enjoyed his short time he got compete against me. Having someone this high caliber of runner that you earned your respect from was one of the biggest confidence boosters in my running.

The reason why I dove into this picture so much is because it depicts how great of a sport running is. It goes beyond racing and competing and really is one of the only sports that brings people together like it does. The friendships made from other schools and with each other is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. Having a sport or extracurricular activity that gets you involved with other people is very important. I wouldn’t who I am today without the people that have pushed me to be better and have beaten me to make me better as well.