Madalyn Corcoran

When I tell people I ran cross country in high school, I'm sure they imagine that I am athletic and a good runner, but to be honest, I was the slowest on the team all four years. Freshman year I joined because I wanted to stay in shape and make friends. Before the first practice I told myself that it didn't matter how slow of runner I was as long as I was having fun, but I was lying to myself. If I'm being completely honest when I was 14 years old, I had big dreams for myself. I was going to be on varsity, be team captain my senior year and get a scholarship running for Georgia. Only one of those things happened and it's the thing that meant the most to me.

Being the slowest runner on the team is extremely bad for your self confidence. I would joke with my friends and tell them that I loved being slow. I would call myself "Back of the pack" and put on a brave face when my coach yelled at me for not meeting the time mark she had made up for me. Realistically, I would cry every time I got home from practice. I would be in a bad mood for the whole day after I finished morning practice late and didn't have time to shower. Sucking at something you really really want to be good at, frankly, sucks.

But surprisingly, I didn't give up. I stayed on the team all four years and I made some of my best friends from it. I cheered on the varsity team at meets. I gave advice to the incoming freshman and ran with the slow ones until they got their bearings and inevitably got much faster than me. My coach noticed. Senior year, she made me the team captain. I wasn't the fastest by a long shot but I did my best to lead the team. I learned a lot about myself from wanting to quit running but sticking with it and I'm so glad I did.