The First Rollercoaster

The merciless summer sun beat down on us with it’s fiery fists of heat. This wasn’t my first time in Great America but it was certainly the first time I was gonna be riding a roller coaster. “How lame!” I thought. I was already in the 5th grade and had not ridden a roller coaster. “Well time to take this off of my bucket list and never ride one again.” Or so I thought. The line moved up as I followed suit and stepped into the car. “Wait theres something wrong here!” I said aloud. “WHY IS MY FIRST ROLLERCOASTER A CLASS 5 RIDE! Shouldn’t I be starting with like level 3?” (the roller coasters are divided into 5 levels with 5 being the fastest). The ride had already begun and the cars jolted forward before my dad had a chance to reply. The slow crawl up to the top of the peak gave me a false sense of impending death and forced my heart to race. As we reached the top I saw a great view but was too busy focusing on what I could do to prevent my early death to care. Then we dropped. The ride went down faster than I could comprehend as it traversed through 2 loops where I thought I was gonna fall off for sure and then 2 corkscrews that got me gripping the handles of my car as tight as I could. We arrived in front of a tunnel in which seeing, caused me to breath a huge sigh of relief. I was done. “False, YOU THOUGHT!” is what god seemed to be saying to me in my head. “Crap!” I screamed in my mind as the roller coaster accelerated to its fastest speed yet, and went down one final drop. I exited the car completely winded and when my dad asked how it was, I simply grinned and responded “Let’s go again.”

Trolling at The Meet

The dust had settled. The Silver Creek Cross Country team approached the line. “On your marks, get set,” POKT! The referee fired the pistol. Edward, Dean, and I quickly sprinted in front of the pack to escape the demon particles, also known as dust, from finding entrances into our throats. Then I heard a thud and Edward yell “DEAN!” and I glanced back to see Edward’s panicked face and that Dean had fallen. Then time froze just for me. Just so I could make this decision. Should I slow down for Dean and let people pass me or should I prioritize the race?

Laughter echoed throughout the bus. Everyone was happy and contained a sense of ambition. We got to leave school early and all the students were eager to prove themselves from the last meet. Especially me. I thought back to the last meet where I had puked. I shook my head and thrust the thoughts from my mind. That was NOT going to happen again. I smiled and turned when my friend asked if I was ready. “You bet.” I said. The bus lurched to a stop. I picked up my things and followed the stream of kids out as the door opened. We strutted to our designated spot only to find out that it was smaller than last time because Evergreen (a school) were a bit to the left of their assigned spot.

After the tarp was spread out and our stuff was put down, most of the boys, including me, stretched and headed to the bathrooms. And, as we expected, by the time we got there, the line was huge from at least 5 kids from each of the many schools that were there. “Screw this.” I muttered under my breath and walked back. When I was halfway back I saw my teammate and friend Andy running towards me yelling “WE WERE LOOKING FOR YOU! WE ALREADY STARTED WARMUPS!” When I heard this I ran to him and started jogging with him in the direction of our warmup run/area. We jogged at a slightly-faster-than-normal pace to catch up with the others who had already started 3 minutes prior.

After 10 minutes we were back at base and getting water. I told my friend Lumbaya “you know how you told me how in varsity the runners have dirty tricks? Well I’m gonna try some of my own out.” “Just don’t burn out!” he exclaimed laughingly. “I will be watching!” I walked to Dean and jokingly said “what if I just like target one guy and cut him off every time he tries to pass me.” and Dean replied with a knowing smile and his snotty, sarcasm stuffed voice, “wow Jayesh you’re so meeeeean!” Just when I took off my jacket we started our drills.

I rushed to the street after taking off excess clothing and began the drills but right then a sharp pain shot up my shins as I doubled over clutching them. I walked to coach who noticed and told me to do any stretches I could and to not walk on the concrete. I did as he told and stretched for 10 of the last 15 minutes before the race. My stomach had that familiar tingle I hated that made me want to puke. The feeling of mutated butterflies in my stomach was there in my previous races and continued to be there for many races onward despite me telling myself that it would go away once I got used to racing. It was, after all, my second meet at montgomery.

We took off our clothes leaving only our jerseys and racing shorts. Then we lined up. Our coach started giving us a speech but it went through one ear and out the other. I was only focused on not making the same mistake I had made last time. I snapped out of my trance when I heard coach say “Nice and loud boys!” right before we roared our cheer. We lined up. “See you at the top” I whispered to Edward. “On your marks!” a new clear voice rang out. “Get set!”, POCHT! The referee fired the pistol. The race had begun.  Edward, Dean, and I ran to the front to escape the insane dust that would make any cross country kid cry. Before the first 100 meters had even ended I heard a THUD and looked back to see Edward yell “DEAN!” with a panicked look on his face. Dean had fallen and I had to choose to get him or not. I then realized that he would probably get back up anyways and catch up so Edward and I pushed forward.

We slowly but surely climbed the first hill which led to another one. My thighs were burning but were soon relieved by the down hill in which I just flew through. I took my coach's advice and let the downhill carry me which resulted in a sprint. We curved upward and interjected into our previous route, but this time, we went the other way. There was a tremendous downhill which I all out sprinted but once again, I was stopped short by an uphill. However, I did not let the momentum from the downhill die and I used it as power to charge up that hill. The next 200 meters were flat. Running it felt like the calm before a storm. The roller coasters were next

The roller coasters are insanely steep and curvy hills that go up and down constantly, hence the name, “roller coasters”. As we raged up that hill my thighs felt like they were being stretched and burned while my shins felt like they were gonna break any minute. I had barely survived the first hill and I took it easy on the downhill which was good because I had managed to recover in time to take on the steepness of the next hill. “Here it was” I thought breathlessly. The whole time I had been breathing through my nose. This left me with enough energy for the last hill. My strides had lengthened but the speed of my legs had decreased. I gathered energy and let my legs carry me up the hill. Then with my legs destroyed, I had reached the top, only to meet, face to face, with true despair. The hill was climbing higher at a slow incline.

I passed my teammate, Justin, who had died out. If he wasn’t going to score, than we had to. Edward and I picked up the pace and moved down the hill in a flash. After this 3 quarters of a mile and we were done. Then my head cleared and I heard, what I thought at the time, a small bell being dropped on the floor washing away everything. I remembered what coach had said. This was the back loop which also meant that this is where you pick it up. This is where you run faster and get your personal record. Your fastest time. With this in mind I locked into the guy in front of me. I was gonna pass him up. But I wanted to have some fun first. I sprinted in front of him then killed my speed and slowed down. He also slowed down and Edward, whom I had left behind, had caught up.

I stared at the ground looking at the opponent's shadow waiting for him to make his move. And he did. I saw the black silhouette moving right and gradually gaining speed. Then, as if I was trying to intercept some imaginary ball, I moved right in front of him again. This time he tried the left but I was too quick. Then I knew. He was about to blow. He sprinted to the right and got side by side with me but I knew that if I cut him off one more time, the victory was mine. So I did. My stride lengthened as I immediately bounded to the right, stopped him, and brought him down to my speed.

I looked back at Edward and we both started laughing. We couldn’t help it. It was just so funny because the kid had wasted so much energy for nothing. His spirits were destroyed and with only half a mile to go, I picked up the pace and Edward followed suit. Our last incline and then straight down hill to the end (with a speed bump in the middle). Our coach yelled “You see those guys? Well pass them UP!!” So I did. What I didn’t know was that the kid we trolled was next to Edward, who after a long fight, passed him up as well. Near the end our coach saw us and told us to keep that pace but I had something else in mind. My legs started moving faster as I went down the last downhill. “Faster!” I screamed in my head. I increased my speed until I passed the finish line and collapsed at the end. It was finally over.

The race had been fun.  I had run all out and despite my shins hurting, the race was good. Edward assumed I was burning out, before that kid showed up of course. I thought back to the kid I cut off and realized how much I was enjoying that, even though I could have burned out and put my whole race at risk. I walked over to base, drank some water and looked back so see everyone from our race finishing up. My friend Dean looked at me, and put out a thumbs up. So did I. We smiled and laughed as I put my hands behind my head and stood up proud of my mischievous accomplishment during the race. Little did I know, this race would stick with me for a long, long time. I then frowned, grim. Our last race was nearly here. The next runners were getting ready as I took one last look at montgomery hill. The dust had settled.