Autobiographical Incident

It was the regional track meet and there was a crowd full of fans including the whole track team, my family, and my coaches. My fellow teammates and I wished each other good luck and headed off to our designated positions for the 4 by 100 meter relay. While I walked to my spot and listened to my coach as he gave me some last minute advice, I glanced to the sky and saw the bright stadium lights shining down upon me like the sun on a summer’s day. I could smell hot dogs and popcorn in the air and the stench made my stomach turn, like the smell of dead fish washed up on the beach. I looked to the packed stands and knew there was cheering going on, but I could not hear a thing. I was thinking about my race, and was picturing the perfect hand-offs in my head. The gun fired, and the race had begun. I jumped a few times while waiting for my teammate to round the track. She hit the mark and I started running. I heard “HEY,” threw my hand back like a bullet, and felt the cold baton in my palm. I was off, and before I knew it I had reached the second exchange zone. Our hand-off went just how I had pictured it, and we had improved to third place. After just completing my leg of the race, I watched in disappointed as my teammates ran out of the exchange zone on the last hand-off.
The first runner came up to me and we both felt very disappointed and upset because we were disqualified. As a result, we were not able to proceed to the second day of the regional meet. Even though we were upset, we knew that our teammates were angry at themselves and needed our encouragement. From this experience, I learned that you have to be forgiving and understanding, even when things do not go the way you hoped.