My high school experiences changed the way I think about athletics and here's why. My coaches get really angry with me all the time because I'm a super sensitive runner, sensitive being physically. I have to warm up longer and take special precautions to not get hurt. I'm hurt a large fraction of each running season. Each year it's been a different one. My first year I had knee issues, and I was out for the entire year. My second year I was having calf and shin problems, then the following year, first week before our races for the season began, I hurt my ankle. What a bust! It was my best season ahead of me! I was planning on making the top 15 of the team. Each year the team takes a trip, usually up to San Francisco for the Golden Gate invintational, although every so often they go to New York for the Manahatten Invintational. I'm so pissed I missed that this year!!!
And it doesn't help at all in running that I have the madest allergies in the world. Every year during the fall I get all these crazy-*bottom* *BLEEP*ing allergies. It ruins my entire season every year. All summer long I train so hard and get really good, and then fall comes: BAM! My seasons over. The pollen just takes over my system and I get dominated. I fall behind no the runs, I can't run as hard, I lose all my energy, and not to mention it's just impossible to breath! How am I supposed to conduct a cardiovascular activity with all these mad allergies going on in my body!?!? It just pisses me off that my body is holding me back from my true potential in running.
Don't get me started on the coaches. They just don't care. After your freshmen year and they see how well you run and that's your reputation for the rest of your career. They get a fresh set of people every year. I don't matter.
In retrospect I'm thankful for the experience but at the same time remember why I felt like this. My cousin was going to go to Columbia on a football scholarship but destroyed his shoulders on a bench press. The coaches kept encouraging him to move up in weight and my cousin who was constantly searching for their approval bought into it. I think about it, and High School coaches, unless they are actually good people, do not care about the individuals on their team. It doesn't matter what happens, they will let you destroy your body because by the time you've done it, you're gone. Anyway, just my two cents.

