How I Handled a Failure

This was one of the Assignments from a Current Writing Class

 

 

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These are articles, stories and accounts of my life, as I recall them, and are copywrited. Unauthorized use will be pursued at my determination, to the degree that I am inclined. Any hard feeling caused by memories that don't match yours are unfortunate and you'll just have to get over it! Feel free to contact me if you have a request for their use. I am not writing for prose or poetry, but just to tell a story. Neither do I try to be politically correct. I consider that an act of cowardice, trying to placate the uninformed, ignorant of history folks that are filled with ego and braggadocios, demanding that their perspective be the prevalent one.

 


How I Handled a Failure


It was my last year of high school, and I had trained for the entire previous year in an attempt to break the state record for running the 100 meter low hurdles on the track team. I had lifted weights, eaten a special diet and practiced visualization techniques and arrived at the state meet with a healthy attitude. When the gun went off, I broke early and was the first one to raise a leg at the first hurdle as well as the next two. I was envisioning the last hurdle and the sprint to the finish when my right foot encountered a low spot in the cinders just as I lifted for the next hurdle, I was a fraction of an inch short, my heel hit the edge of the hurdle and it was all over. I became entangled in the wood crossbar, went down immediately and watched from my back as the other hurdlers passed above me.
I was bleeding from both knees and both elbows and had a wide ‘road rash’ just above my right eyelid.

The young man that I was beating set the new state record, and while I did not complete the race, I felt assured that I had trained correctly and put myself in a position to win the race and set the state record. It was at that moment, while I was still picking cinder particles out of my skin, that I decided that I had pursued hurdling as far as I could go and made the decision to pursue the sport of soccer. Looking back, that afternoon showed me that I was able to commit, concentrate and achieve, but it also taught me that I am not in control of every aspect of my life.