I still remember the feeling of winning my first race. It was exhilarating. I first started running for the social aspect. I lived in a small town and sports was just about the only activity to do as a kid. I met all my best friends from the sports I played, and for awhile that was what kept me invested in athletics. Something changed after that first win. I was in seventh grade, running the home cross country meet. The course was two miles long and I was running neck-and-neck with my older teammate Cade, entering the last half mile of the course. I had been running well all season, but I had never managed to beat Cade. We were closing in on the finish line, we just had to run the perimeter of the practice field, and I felt good. As the cheering from parents swelled, I picked up the pace. Adrenaline fueled and spurred on by the crowd I pumped my little legs across the finish line… in first. That win was a catalyst that set off a chain reaction that radically changed my life. From that moment on the expectation was to win. I never ran a race without that goal. That first win infected me with a passion, a need, for running and racing. This sport, first fulfilling a social function, has honestly changed my life for the better. It has led to relationships with my best friends, traveling the country searching for competition and most recently this sport has opened up the doors of higher education. I owe my life to this sport and after all these years I still find it fresh, exciting and fun. I love it and I don’t see that changing anytime soon.