“Track is boring. Track is just people running. Track takes no skill.” These are the ideas that people often express to me about my favorite sport. And they couldn’t be more wrong.
I have participated in school track since sixth grade, although I didn’t take a serious interest in it until seventh grade, when I really began to enjoy the sport. Since seventh grade, track has been as big of a part of my life as any activity other than school. I specialize in the 800 meter race, almost exactly half a mile. I additionally participate in the 4×400 meter relay in almost every meet I attend.
To call track is boring is ludicrous. Most people who actually come and watch track meets have a great time, especially if they are acquainted with or friends with athletes participating.
The intensity and competitive nature of the sport still impresses me today. As a participant, no race has ever been boring. Although it is less applicable in sprint (shorter) events, so much can happen over the course of a race. Two runners can exchange leads repeatedly. A runner out of nowhere can begin closing on the race leader, making every spectator watch anxiously to see if the leader will be caught. Rivalries are formed and competitors develop mutual respect for one another as they continually meet on the track.
Vying for victory after every race is an extremely enjoyable experience, especially after having worked hard to improve over the course of many years. Eight hundred meter races that come down to who has the best “kick,” or late-race sprint, may be my favorite part of the entire sport. The sheer anticipation of when a competitor is going to take off makes such races ridiculously exciting, and trying to match the person’s speed and overwhelm the individual is gratifying beyond belief.
Winning, however, would not be pleasing without putting in hard work. Track workouts are some of the most physically demanding workouts in sports. Just as track athletes would have difficulty adjusting to other sports, athletes from any other sport would have extremely difficulty doing track workouts as well, which often insist of intervals of anywhere between 200 and 1000 meters being run in repetition with limited rest.
I honestly see no other sport with the pure competitiveness of track and field. Having additionally participated in baseball, basketball and soccer in leagues, and cross country for the school, no sport has come close to satisfying my competitive drive like track has. Even though my last two track seasons were as an underclassman, I have never entered an 800 meter race that I wasn’t looking to win, and a weak performance is difficult to deal with regardless of if it results in a loss or just a bad time.
The individual nature of it, the glory of winning and all the emotion that comes out of each race just cannot be found in any other sport.
