The Gift of Life – A poem

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I wrote this for an assignment in Language Arts class. One of the requirements was that it had to be 90 seconds long. I had tried several attempts before this, but had trouble with the length and finally ended up with this. I hope you enjoy it.

 

The Gift of Life

In life, there are many ups and downs

Just like a rollercoaster, speeding along its tracks

Good choices, and bad choices

Rights and wrongs

Yin and yang

In life, people come and go,

Just like the tide ebbs and flows

Don’t worry if you feel lost or scared,

weary or sad,

because for every down in life, there is an up

The stairway of life may seem very difficult at times,

but when you look back down to see how far you’ve come,

The ground is nowhere in sight,

and you realize how far you’ve climbed to get to where you are

So don’t stop now,

keep moving along,

and achieve the goals and dreams you never thought youcould

Life is a never-ending story,

and you’re the author

You must write on

because only you can make your life the way you want it to be

Life is not a path of easiness and simplicity

it is a path of obstacles, difficulty, and sorrow

 But you push through these things,

and find yourself happy, prosperous, and peaceful

Life is about inspiring others and making a difference in their lives

no matter how big or small

God sent us all down to Earth to do something

To change the world,

and make it a better place than it was before we were born

Life is a Pendulum

It swings and sways from side to side,

Representing the good and bad in your life

For all the bad things that have happened,

The pendulum will swing that much more towards the good

So don’t worry if you’re on the bad side of the pendulum,

For you are bound to swing eventually

Take risks, and embark on the adventure of Life

Love yourself for who you are,

and respect others for who they are

Accept that life is an opportunity,

And a gift given to us all

from the Heavens above

Thanks for reading.

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90 feet tall and bullet proof

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Wow time really flies when you are BUSY! 7th grade has brought a lot more homework and managing my time has been a challenge. My schedule basically consists of going to school, training, doing homework, and training some more. This may not sound like a lot, but for me, it adds up quickly. I have really high standards for myself when it comes to my school work. So, if a teacher assigns a written paper, or note-taking, or preparing for a test, I like to be very thorough. Sometimes an assignment is meant to take 20-30 minutes but I have 5 teachers giving homework. I want to use the assignments to truly benefit and learn so I tend to take a little more time with them. A lot of what we learn is really interesting!

Unfortunately, this means I take a little longer than others to complete my work to my satisfaction. I really like all of my classes, especially history, science, technology, and math. Here’s where my time management becomes a challenge. After a full day at school, I look forward to having a quick snack and relaxing. I usually have less than 2 hours before I need to get ready for practice and on some days, I will go for a 30-40 minute run BEFORE practice. If I enjoy my “rest” time too long, then I end up having to do all my homework after practice and after dinner, which is usually around 8:30pm. Many nights I will have 3 hours of homework which puts me to bed at 11:30pm. If I need to type something up, I will usually get up at 5:30 the next morning to do this before school.

My parents are always on me about getting more sleep. I know this is so important so I keep juggling things around to prioritize my sleep more. A lot of people tell me that my grades don’t matter in middle school. Matter to who? They may not matter to colleges, but what I get out of my time spent in school matters to ME. Everything I do. Every challenge, every mistake– these are all my teachers. They are brought to me for a reason and I’m not going to miss out on any opportunities to grow.

I just learned about a very special tree- the Chinese Bamboo. Unlike a normal tree that grows gradually and slowly, the Chinese bamboo tree doesn’t grow at all for 4 years. Then all of a sudden, in its 5th year, the thing grows something like 90 feet in 5 weeks! These trees are extremely strong and resilient. I am amazed by this story. During that time that it is not growing tall, it is actually growing tremendously, behind the scenes.. It is building a massive and magnificent roots system which sets it up and enables it to grow at lightning speed later on. Wow!

I’d like to think that in some way I’m like a bamboo seed. And that right now, I’m building an amazing roots system that one day will not only make me 90 feet tall, but bullet proof, too 🙂 While it’s exciting to think about all that lies ahead, I find that all of the “behind-the-scenes” action is pretty fun, too. How’s your root system coming along?

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After the race…

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Right after the awards ceremony at IronKids, we were starving and went to have lunch at my absolute FAVORITE place, Fuddruckers!!! There aren’t any Fuddruckers near my hometown anymore, so whenever I spot one I go CRAZY.

I had a cheeseburger, fries, and a huge Oreo milkshake– YUMMMMM!!!

Afterwards, we made the drive back to my cousins’ house in Minnesota. We played games in the car ride the whole way. For dinner, we had pizza– double yummm!

The next day, we went to Mall of America. It’s a huge mall with an amusement park INSIDE! I couldn’t believe it. We did NO shopping. We just went straight to the food court and then to the rides. Here you can see all the rides behind us 🙂

This place was so awesome. I think I rode every single ride. My favorites were the SpongeBob Rock Bottom Plunge where the coaster goes straight up and straight down before doing a bunch of upside-down loops and turns. Neither of my cousins would ride this with me. Luckily, my brave Aunt Sarah went with me. Doesn’t it look like fun?

I also really loved Avatar Airbender. It looked like a giant skateboard with spinning seats on it. It went up really high on two sides as if you are in a giant half-pipe and definitely was a thriller. My mom went on this with me. She LOVED it! The ride is so crazy- it looks like this:

Maddie and I also rode the Log Chute water ride and the Pepsi Orange Streak.

We also did a giant ropes course and a bunch of other rides. This was such a fun day. My cousins are so fun I could have stayed there the entire night!

Mall of America rocks!!!

USATF Cross Country Junior Olympics – 12/11/10

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Yesss!! I finished my race in 5th place!!!! I was so proud of myself when I finished. When I saw my mom, she hugged me so tight. She was very amazed.

At the start, there were 250 boys lined up all the way across this huge field. I was on the far left with the rest of my teammates. I had a strong start, but there were a lot of boys that were ahead of me when the course narrowed. I just kept my pace strong and cleared my mind.

My coach told us that since this is the last race of the season, that we should be completely exhausted by the end. We should have nothing left. So I ran at my maximum. When I finished I was so tired. I was so tired that I was crying.

My team took 2nd place. We were all very excited. Here are our results.

After the race, my mom and I went straight to Toys R Us and I got to pick out a new yo-yo! This was very exciting because my mom NEVER takes me to Toys R Us.

We went to a special victory dinner with my team and then after that we went to the USATF Awards Ceremonies. I got 2 awards – one for my individual results and the other for my team results. I had such a fun time this weekend and am so happy!

Some more photos from the race.

Even more photos!

Live race footage

Day Before the Races..

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I am here in Alabama and it is the day before my big race. I met a new friend at the airport on the way here. His name is Jack and we ended up sitting together on the plane. He is on the same team as me. I am still meeting a lot of my teammates because I started so late. We had a lot of fun. He brought his DS and we battled each other in Mario Kart, Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games, and New Super Mario Bros.

This morning I went to the course at Veterans Park and jogged through it to get the feel of it. The start is really wide and then it narrows into a path that goes around a lake. You have to go around the lake twice before you then loop around another section to the finish. After the jog-through, my team practiced several starts.

After our morning at the course, my mom and I went to the Wynfrey Hotel and we bought some sweatshirts for souvenirs. I got a really cool bright yellow sweatshirt 🙂

I have been thinking a lot about tomorrow and I am a little bit nervous. My mom tells me I shouldn’t be, but I am. I bet all the runners are feeling the same way. My mom says to just do my best! And I will.

We ended up going to lunch with Jack’s family. Then we headed over to the Opening Ceremonies at Samford University. It was really fun. They had a big band playing music as we paraded into the stadium. There were 16 regions from across the country. I am from Region 15. Each region had these “Hoover Belles” leading the way. They were girls who were wearing really big dresses and hats.

At the ceremony, the director of the competition spoke. Also, a man named Chris Solinsky spoke. He is an amazing athlete and runner. He gave a speech encouraging all of us to do our best. Afterwards, at the big Pasta Dinner, I got to meet him and get his autograph. It was so cool. I will have to write more about him later.

That’s all for now. I’ll keep you updated.

A Runner Named Meb

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I just finished reading an article from yesterday’s San Diego Union Tribune. I am interested in it because it talks about a runner, and I love running. The person’s name is Meb Keflezighi. He ran the 5 boroughs of New York and won it. He was the 1st American to win since Alberto Salazar in 1982.

Towards the finish line, he said he felt a sense of relief that he had done it. In his 12th attempt at that distance, he won a marathon. Until then his silver medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics represented his awesome achievement.

He also did one in New York and one in Boston. He said it was a blessing. He also went to about 20 National Championships!

Meb had a vision for himself before he ran. Before his New York victory, he had not run a good run in Boston and took third. He started getting worse and worse. His appearance fees started dropping.

At the 2008 trials he broke suffering the pain. The sport moved away from Meb. He had a lot of injuries and people started to doubt his ability to do well anymore.

But Meb is not a quitter. He does not take the easy road ever, and challenges don’t affect him. Meb says that he is now fit and is setting a goal on a 10 miles training run in September.

I admire Meb’s passion.

IronKids Nationals 2010

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…Continued from previous journal entry (October 4, 2010)…

The IronKids event was such a fun event. I want to do it again next year. Here are some pictures from the event. It went by really fast and I had a great time traveling with Dad.

Based on my performance at the San Diego Qualifier, I was supposed to come in around 38th place. I ended up taking 30th. An improvement! I had a blast and would love to do it again next year.

Heading to St. Petersburg, Florida!

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Excerpts from my written journal (October 2, 2010)…

I have just left the San Diego airport and I am sitting on the Southwest airplane. We are way above the clouds. I ordered an apple juice and it tastes great! I am on my way to Florida to compete in the IronKids Nationals.

I am very excited and proud. My Dad is proud of me too. My mom is at a conference and my sister is at her friend’s house, so it’s just me and Dad.

(later..)

We are about to land in Phoenix and then take off on another plane. The next plane I board will take longer because it will go to Florida.

I have just boarded the next plane and it’s another Southwest plane. It’s going to be about five hours until we arrive. I can’t wait to land in Florida and see what it looks like!

I just ate some Ritz and chips ahoy cookies and boy, it was phenomenal! I had some apple juice also.

In about three hours, we will arrive in Florida.

I just finished a couple of courses in Mario Kart and I won almost all of them. I was Luigi for every single course. I played Figure 8 circuit, Yoshi Falls, Cheep Cheep Beach, Luigi’s Mansion, Dessert Hills, Delfino Square, Waluigi Pinball, Shroom Ridge, Mario Circuit 1, Moo Moo Farm, Peach Circuit, Luigi Circuit, Donut Plains 1, Frappe Snowland, Bowser Castle 2, and Baby Park.. in that order.

We will probably be in Florida in two hours and thirty minutes. When I get there, I will be begging for food!

I have just woken up from a LONG nap and there is about 45 more minutes until we land. Then, I’ll be in Florida!

Yay we are in Florida! I just got into our rental car and it is a silver Hyundai. We are driving across a lake on a bridge. My Dad got off at the wrong exit so now we’re headed to the right exit so we can find the hotel.

We have just arrived at the hotel.

to be continued…