Personal Quality, Talent, Accomplishment, Contribution

¶ … personal quality, talent, accomplishment, contribution or experience that is important to you. What about this quality or accomplishment makes you proud and how does it relate to the person you are?

Not Heartbreak Hill of the Boston Marathon, maybe, but it's broken the willpower of many runners.

the Junior Varsity National cross-country championship. SAC invitational. Famous for being one of the biggest invitationals in the nation. Famous for boasting a course that is made up of three hills, sloped as steep as a staircase.

The first hill is almost perpendicular to the ground. The second is the worst of the three. That is the most difficult way to structure a course. The hardest hill rises up before the runner, just after he's lost his freshness, but he can't see the finish line.

I am the captain of my team, and my mind is filled with thoughts, not just of my own desire for victory, but how many times I talked my Arcadia teammates through hard practices with inspiring words. How can I let them down? Everything I told them about perseverance and persistence will seem like a lie, if I don't run faster.

The score every runner counts. I was in the back of the pack the first mile. I hear a dull roar, at first I think it is my ears popping. I realize it's the sound of the crowds.

My coach's voice, roaring out the mile splits. My first mile at 5:20, second at 11:20, and later I learn I finished at 16:54. My teammates from the other races, I think I can pick out their voices, cheering. All I can think of is the pain. During moments like these I know love cross-country more than anything else in the world. You only go through such intense pain for something you love. The last hill is the longest one of all, they call it the "Reservoir," I think because you need every reservoir of your energy to survive.