Update from Sashyana

I was never athletic. Of course the idea has come across me a few times. But every time I tried I felt misplaced. After a year of high school, I finally worked up the urge to just give it a shot. Volleyball try outs was disappointing. I learned that I lacked a lot of athletic ability such as upper body weight, strength, speed, and good stamina. Despite these hardships I managed to barely make the team. There were 3 sets of tryouts, I had made it through 2 until I sprained my ankle. Because of this, I couldn't attend the last tryouts which made me eligible for a replacement. I told myself I would never play another sport again; until my junior year of high school when I joined track. 

Track out of all sports! Anyone can learn to catch or hit a ball, but it takes self training to run. Unlike most sports track is an individual sport. It is unique because it teaches you to push yourself. But with each different track and field event comes great athletic skills. Sprinting and striding, leaping and jumping, throwing, and striving for raw athletic improvement seem simple to a lot of people - until they’ve tried it, day in and day out. I am very proud of myself for having done so. 

However because senior comes with new journeys, I wasn't sure about joining track. Climbing Mount Tai was a life changing experience. In the beginning I was filled with excitement. I couldn't wait to tell all my friends back at home that I had climbed a mountain! As we started to climb this anticipation grew. Mount Tai was a roaring 9,000 feet high with a climate drop of 9 degrees Celsius. The first stairs were a breeze. However, by the eighth flight I found myself gasping for air. I was experiencing internal pain after realizing I was only on the eighth flight out of 200+. With every step I felt my quads ripping apart. After every flight I felt a clash of hot and cold breeze from the drastic weather change. We were segregated into little groups. Looking at the groups ahead made climbing feel almost impossible. Since I took more pit stops than others this set me back further. I was defeated, but the lively energy from the Northern China civilians motivated me to keep pushing forward. 

Finally, after what seemed like forever I reached the top of Mount Tai and felt renewed. I had done the unthinkable! joining track helped me build my confidence that lead me to experience and succeed this new journey.