The one experience in
my life that I never like to talk about but know really helped me put things
into perspective, was an event that happened to me in high school. My first
three years of high school I was a three sport athlete looking to go to college
to continue pursing sports, I was a top
15 runner on the number one cross country team in the nation. But I had a big
dilemma on my hands; my hockey coach wanted me to quite running to focus on
hockey, while my cross country coach wanted me to quite hockey to focus on
running. It all came to a halt 3 months into my junior year of high school when
during a practice on a Monday night I was awkwardly checked into the boards
during a skating drill. I fell to my knees and tried to get back up, but I
could not, I tried again, only to realize that something was not right. With my
back on the cold ice I tried again, only this time looking down at my legs,
soon to realize that something was very wrong.
Almost simultaneously I felt an excruciating amount of pain, and from
there my sports career was essentially over for me. I ended up with a dislocated left knee,
tearing everything in my knee from the ACL to my MCL. On my way to the hospital
that night in the ambulance I kept hearing the words of my cross country coach
in my head, telling me to quite, but both of us knew I never would quite hockey
or cross country because I loved the thrill of competition and the ability to
be on a team way too much.
To say something
positive was gained from such a bad injury is hard to do, but I have come out
of this more upbeat and positive than ever. For six months after my injury I
was so down on life, but when I finally recovered from my surgery and tried to
run again, it really showed me how much hard work I had done to get to the
point I was before my injury. Six months earlier I could run a 4:43 mile, and
keep up with top group of runners on the team, now I could barley run for 5
minutes without stopping. With the
guidance of my coach I continued to run again, though never to the level I was
capable of before, I still got to do what I loved, and that is run. Overall I gained the knowledge of hard work
and how important it is to give everything that you have, because in one single
moment everything could be taken away from you.
