Peck1

Jaden Peck

Professor Garcia

English 134

2 February 2024

A Runner’s Life

Lining up at the start line, not sure if you can compete with the pain and challenge of

making it to the finish line just 200 meters away. When the gun goes off, it’s everyone for

themselves. Your heart is pounding as you round the first bend. Your body is only running on a

single dose of adrenaline rush. Your mind is focused on going as fast as you possibly can. But

the inevitable comes when your muscles tense up and all you can think about is a fresh cup of

water waiting for you at the finish line. From the viewers’ perspective, it looks like random

people running in circles, but on the inside, you’ve been training for this one race for months.

When you finally reach the finish line, you feel relieved and so tired you could sleep for three

days straight. But a part of you feels replenished and makes you feel like you can accomplish

anything standing in your way. Track is a demanding sport and takes a lot from the body and the

mind but eventually pays off in the end because of the numerous beneficial factors that come

with being a runner. Many don’t know the inside scoop of what it is like to be a runner, but for

others, running changes their life.

But where did Track and Field actually start? It initially started in ancient Greece in 776

BC around the start of the Olympics. It was created alongside religious events and celebrations

of Greek gods. The first games in Olympia, Greece, participants played in only one track event -

the Stadion footrace (Figure 1).

 Peck2

Figure 1 - First Olympic Games in 776 BC in Olympia, Greece. The track was longer in length and shorter in width
than tracks currently. This is because they thought it would be better for spectators and because it follows the metric
system. Later, when track and field came to the US, they implemented the standard track length and width like we
see today.
Image from: https://ataax.com/track-and-field-history-and-games/

After a while, they expanded to a list of categories such as sprint races, long jump, discus,

shot put, and javelin. Despite its long and storied history, track and field didn’t gain popularity

until the 1860s as it grew in England and then later traveled to the United States. Eventually,

more events came to life such as long-distance running, high jump, and hurdling. But what is it

like to actually be a runner?

Interested to learn more about the inside scoop of what it is like to be a runner, I spoke

with Amy Peck, who ran competitively in high school and later in college at Boise State

University. She has been running since she was five years old and recorded many high school

records that still haven’t been broken to this day. Running was a crucial part of her earlier life

and is still plays a significant role in her life to this day. Looking back at her past as a runner, the

relationships she made were a key part of her career as a runner especially in college at Boise

State. “All of my friends were on the track team and were my main social group,” she said.
 Peck3

When she met different people from the track team, they all had “a lot in common” and were all

outdoorsy types of people who “connected well with each other”(Peck). Later in her adult years,

she had a group of friends who would all get up and run at 5am. This kept her passion for

running alive because when she did it with other people, she enjoyed it way more than being by

herself. “Going through pain with my lifelong friends is what I loved most,” she reflected.

Running is the best way to connect with people and have “deep conversations about anything

and everything”(Peck). To this day, she gets still gets up at 5am most mornings to go for a run.

What one would call insanity, she calls “A nice and peaceful morning jog”(Peck).

Amy is very dedicated to the sport of running because it has myriad beneficial factors for

both the mind and the body. When asked about how her diet changed when she began racing

competitively she said, “I had to eat way more protein and vegetables”(Peck). Not only do you

need to eat healthy and integrate protein and vegetables in your diet but the body also needs a lot

of iron as well. A healthy diet is key to performing well. Back in Amy’s high school days, she

would have to eat a big meal the night before a race to boost her energy for the next morning. “If

I didn’t have a good well balanced meal and drink a ton of water the night before a race, I didn’t

perform well,” she said. During a race, the body transfers proteins and healthy fats into

ATP(adenosine triphosphate), so the more proteins and healthy fats that you have in your diet,

the better performance and energy you will have (Smith). Amy’s dad would say, “You have to

eat well to play well,” which she caught onto and integrated into her life pretty quickly. Amy

said, “My dad educated me on nutrition so it helped me learn what I needed to do to run faster.”

Her dad was also a competitive runner and started the Glenwood Springers Track Club when

Amy was only 5 years old. He is also a doctor and knows a lot about what the body transfers into

energy and what doesn’t. He would always push Amy to take care of her body so she could do

well in her race. “It got annoying after a while, but I knew that nutrition and a good nights rest is
 Peck4

crucial for a runner,” she mentioned. To really succeed in the sport, a strict diet and sleep are

very important factors. But just as important as that is your mentality.

Running is essentially all a mindset. You can choose to bow out or push to the finish.

When Amy was little she was taught to always think about positive things during a race. She

mentioned that, “When you start thinking about how painful it is and how much it sucks then it

just goes downhill from there”(Peck). Thinking about the positive side of things like how

relieved you’ll be when it’s over is critical for your mindset. Amy had a “mind over matter”

mentality which led her to being such a fast and experienced runner. Not only during a race do

you need to have a strong mindset but also running in general. Amy said, “Running has made me

a stronger person and more confident in my body.” Even to this day, she finds herself being more

productive, energetic and confident because of the person that running has made her into. But

something you may be wondering is, what do runners think about while they run? When asked

this question, Amy responded, “It is a time to think and solve all of my problems that are

happening in my life.” She uses running as alone time and a time when she can clear her head.

That is why she enjoys running so much because it involves personal time to herself without the

craziness of her everyday life. But there are other times when running with other people or being

coached can make you better as well.

Amy has had many influential personal trainers and coaches throughout her high school

and college career. When her dad started the Glenwood Springers track team for middle school

students (Figure 2), Amy would go to the practices and practice with them even though she was

only eight years old at the time and couldn’t race. At the practices, her dad would teach her

proper warm-up technique and the different types of running and hurdling workouts that she

could do. Then, she started practicing those workouts every single day, “trying to do better than I
 Peck5

did the day before,” she noted. Her dad served as her coach for most of her days before middle

school and taught her about the basics of racing and hurdling.

Figure 2 - Glenwood Springers community track and field meet in 2015. In the years before middle school, Amy
wasn’t able to race on the Glenwood Springers but later on, they opened up the opportunity for passionate young
racers from ages 4-18 at this middle school. This is where Amy’s competitive racing career all started.
Image by: https://www.postindependent.com/sports/right-on-track-for-lots-of-fun/

Later in high school, one of her most influential coaches throughout her whole career

told her something that would stick with her forever. Her coach said, “You can do anything for a

minute.” If you think about only doing something for a minute, it’s not a very long time. So

using that logic, you can suffer and power through pain for a full minute doing any exercise.

During workouts and races, Amy would use this mentality to push her to limits that she never

knew she was capable of. The sole reason she holds high school records in the 100-meter

hurdles, 100-meter dash, and 50-meter dash is because of her coaches who pushed her

capabilities and trained her mentally to compete with other fast runners. Starting to practice hard-

core workouts at a young age also played a role in her advanced capabilities that came with

being a sprinter and a hurdler. In high school after her classes, Amy would do two-hour workouts

including sprints, long distance running and hurdles. This mindset and willingness to power

through each exasperating workout led to her success as a competitive racer. Through all of this,
 Peck6

her passion for running and her “mind over matter” mentality led her to be a successful runner

and achieve those high school records that still stand today.

Even in her later years, she still finds benefits of running in her everyday life. “Since I

have ADHD, I’m super antsy so running helps calm me down and focus on one thing at a time,”

she revealed. She has seen her overall mentality benefit because of running. To get her day

started each morning, she goes on a leisurely 5-mile run to have a good start to the day and get

her in a better mood. She likes the “me time”(Peck) that goes along with it as well. For Amy, it is

a way to relieve stress and increase her overall fitness level as she gets older. Running helps her

with sleep problems as well. With Amy’s ADHD, it is hard for her to get a good night's rest, but

with a good morning workout, it has made it much easier to sleep. When asked what she would

do if she couldn’t exercise for a full month she noted that it would make her feel “unhealthy, fat,

and weak”(Peck.) It would also affect her sleep and make her feel antsy. Exercise is a necessary

part in not only Amy’s life, but every individuals life as well. Whether it’s a hardcore workout or

a brisk walk with your dogs, everyone needs to get out and clear their head every once in a

while.

Since she was 5 years old, track and field served as a meaningful part of Amy’s life. She

has made connections that she wouldn’t have otherwise made and levels of confidence that she

didn’t have before track and field. It made her overall nutrition better for the rest of her life.

Additionally, she now knows what she is capable of doing because of the way she experienced it

before: through her coaches constant push to get better each day. With all of her knowledge,

experience, and passion for the sport, she decided to continue the influence that coaches had on

her running career by coaching the Landsharks Running Club at Lone Tree Elementary to help

teach kids the basics of running and racing, just like her father did when she was little. Amy’s
 Peck7

goal is to teach future runners the insides of being a competitive racer and the hard work and

mental strength that will ultimately take them to the next level.
 Peck8

Sources:

1. Ataax. “Track and Field - Know More about the Age-Old Sport.” Ataax, 11 Sept. 2020,

ataax.com/track-and-field-history-and-games/.

2. Mitchell, Jon. “Right on Track for Lots of Fun.” PostIndependent.Com,

PostIndependent.com, 18 July 2015, www.postindependent.com/sports/right-on-track-

for-lots-of-fun/.

3. Smith, Alison Astill. “How Does the Body Produce Energy?: Metabolics.” Metabolics

High Quality Nutritional Supplements, Metabolics Ltd, 2 Feb. 2021,

www.metabolics.com/blog/how-does-the-body-produce-energy.

4. Todd, Jessica. “The History of Track and Field.” FloTrack, FloSports, 25 June 2020,

www.flotrack.org/articles/6747663-the-history-of-track-and-field.

Final Reflection:
 Peck9

5. Describe how your project developed. What were your initial thoughts about it? How did
your thinking and understanding of your subject, interviewing, analysis, or writing
change as a result of doing this work?
My initial thought about my subject for my profile essay was going to be how sports
influenced/changed a person’s life and I was going to do two interviews: both my mom and my
friend Erik who are both very active. But I thought that this idea of sports changing someone's
life was too general so I chose a more specific focus and narrowed it down to a profile essay
about my mom and how running and exercise has benefited her everyday life. My interview
changed as well because I had to come up with new questions about my moms past as a runner
and how she got coached and other questions like that.

6. As a writer, what were you hoping your profile would do? What audiences were you
trying to reach, and what effect did you hope to have on them?
I was hoping that my profile would open the eyes of people that love running. I want to
make the reader want to go on a run after reading my profile essay. I was trying to reach the
whole sports community to give them insights into how beneficial exercise in general is good for
your body and how your body needs exercise.
7. For each of the following educational outcomes, describe 1) one way this assignment
sequence helped you achieve the outcome and 2) one way the assignment sequence could
be changed to help you better achieve the outcome. In your responses, give examples
from your own writing process.

a. Explain how audience and rhetorical situation influence topic, genre, content, and
style in composing effective written communications (EO 1)
Different written communications are meant for different audiences. A different genre for
example, can give you a totally different audience that you have to account for. The assignment
sequence could be changed by letting us interview different people first and then figure out what
to write about after. This would affect how we perceive our audience through writing more
clearly and descriptively because of the multiple interviews we conducted and the ideas we got
from those.
b. Recognize that the writing process is necessary to the discovery, development,
and clarification of ideas (EO 3)
This EO definitely helped me slow the process down and break it down step by step. It all started
with brainstorming ideas for the profile essays and different subjects we could do. Then, it led to
narrowing it down to one idea and picking out different interviews to do. This process especially
helped me because figuring out who I was willing to interview helped me discover my subject.
Then after that interview we could start conducting our profile essays. This writing process
helped slow down the process to make sure we got every detail and idea that we could
incorporate into our essay. I believe this was the best sequence for the assignment because it
really helped break it down and develop our essays.
c. Demonstrate information literacy through the successful search, discovery, critical
evaluation, and ethical reporting of information (EO 4)
 Peck10

Throughout my essay, I included snippets of researched information such as the energy

transforming into ATP that your body uses for energy and the background information about the
history of track and field. I reported the information clearly and concisely throughout my essay.
This was a significant part in the development of my essay and research was also very important
for background information and necessary information needed in my essay. I don’t think this EO
could be changed to benefit my essay in any other ways.

d. Employ sound reasoning, effective organization, and accuracy in expression

based on audience awareness and an understanding of cultural differences in
communication norms and practices (EO 5)
Effective organization and accuracy is definitely very important especially in my essay because
my essay and subject developed over time throughout. Especially accuracy for your audience is
very important. Something that would be of benefit to me would be a different audience or
culture because that would change my essay a lot.

8. What is the strongest part of your final draft? What is the weakest part? If you could
continue to revise this essay, what would you like to change?
The strongest part of my final draft would be the quotes that I used. I tried to pick out the best
quotes from my subject that would influence the overall message of the piece and make it more
influential to the reader. Another strong part of my essay is the conclusion paragraph. I felt like I
summed up the influence that being a runner had on my mom and how she is continuing to
influence the sport of track and field in a different way and how she is still very passionate about
what she does. The weakest part of my final draft is probably the transitions between paragraphs.
I feel like I did an okay job at transitioning throughout the story but it was very difficult to
connect those transitions from the end of one paragraph to the start of another one. If I could
continue to revise this essay, I would probably clean up the transitions a little bit and maybe
more description at the start of the piece.