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The Relay Specialist | 5.06.01
I was never good at track as an individual; there was someone on my team who was always faster than me in the events I liked to run. I wasn't one to get my team many points in a dual meet and at individual invitationals, I hardly ever won a medal. What I ran for was the opportunity to win as a team; to be a piece of a winning puzzle. My first relay experience came in 10th grade as a 55m shuttles hurdler. I had quit basketball a few weeks before and had learned to hurdle in less than two weeks. I had been the missing piece to the hurdle team and it was me who allowed our school to enter this race. We finished 3rd in the county and won ourselves a bronze medal. My track coach told me that it was because of me that we placed third, a bigtime compliment for me, considering I had ran the slowest time. I ran many relays over the next few years and during that time, I had some good races and some bad ones. I won a total of five county medals, 3 bronze and 2 silver, and I've not grown tired of the excitement each relay race brings. This past Wednesday was my last time running relay races, probably for the rest of my life. Our 110 high hurdles team placed 3rd, our Sprint Medley team (I run the 200m) placed 5th, and our 4x100m team placed 3rd. Though a big portion of my last track season remains, I know that I've done my job as a relay specialist. As an experienced baton passer or an error-free hurdler, I've had my fun in being a team player in a sport that glorifies individual achievement. |
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