Adam Huff

Professor Campbell
September 30th, 2014
University Writing 1100
Literacy Narrative
I showed up at around 7:15 a.m. to something very out of my element. I knew one
person on the same boat as me, my only friend on the roster didnt show up the first day. I was
there alone and being as shy as me it was hard to get to talking with people. A person I hadnt
seen in years came up to me. Trey tucker asked me Did you remember to bring your watch
today? I responded slowly Uh, I didnt know we were supposed to bring one. Trey shook his
head at me as he mumbled Stupid freshman. Then coach finally started to talk and we
quieted down. He split us up into small groups and told us to run 3 miles for our easy day. While
I knew it was going to be a huge jump for me running on the Cross Country team I didnt expect
it to be that big. After I finished the first day, exhausted, I remember my coach saying Its just
the beginning boys.
I wasnt always a runner. To be honest I never was a runner. The first 5k I ran was called
Angel Kisses, it for a boy who died from leukemia. That boy was a brother of one of my
classmates so I decided I had to do it. I showed up not really prepared at all. I was wearing
basketball shoes, basketball shorts, and a t-shirt. Not prepared in the slightest for a race.
Almost instantly as the race started, I began to pull away from my friends and pass person after

person. My competitive nature showed almost right away when I dropped my friends not even
a mile into the race. I remember them saying Adam Huff from Chantilly, Virginia when I came
through the line and finished. While I didnt go to school the next two days because my calves
hurt so bad my mom thought I was destined to be a runner. But that was 5th grade. Its about to
be freshman year and high school and it will be a rough first year.
One of the first things I noticed that I was lagging behind in was just the pure
vocabulary. I remember when my coach started saying a hard workout and said We will be
doing a fartlek workout today for 2 minutes hard 1 minute off 3 minutes hard 2 minutes off and
do 7 sets of that. I was completely baffled when he listed everything off to me and my
teammates and people actually understood. He sounded like a professional auctioneer. My
teammates had to break everything down to the most basic sense for me. Even then I still had
to rely on the help of my teammates calling out Start! and Stop! Then there were more
straight forward words like kick and find a shoulder which both have specific meanings to
finish fast and hang on.
I remember when trying out for the team it was really hard for me to figure out a race
strategy. I never had raced 2 miles before because the standard distance since elementary
school was the mile. I was truly out of my element and tried to stick with some upperclassmen
to pace effectively. Once the gun went off I immediately sprinted to the front of the pack and
lead everyone. This ends up pissing off the better guys and thus making them speed up and
pass me. So when we hit the first mile I was holding on for dear life and hit the dreaded wall.
This wall is what all distance runners have hit when you go too fast and all your energy is lost
and it feels like you have hit a wall. This is the textbook definition of pulling a freshman move

on a cross country team. I was given crap from my teammates for the next year about it while
also in training/races trying to get my own race strategy.
That day came on April 30th, 2011 for me. Being a freshman I spent the whole year
learning the ropes and just having fun until the XBC track classic came along. It was our home
meet and my coach had high expectations for me. He wanted me to break the barrier of
mediocrity and break the 5 minute mile barrier as a freshman. It was simple just to break down
to each lap I have to hit 75 seconds. My coach was at the start line with watch in hand to yell
out splits. I remember each one as I came down each straight away 74, 75, and 77
screamed my coach. At this point Im thinking mentally Im screwed since I keep falling off the
pace but I only have one lap left and not far off. I pick off as many freshman as possible before
crossing the finish line. All my teammates rush down to the finish line to congratulate me for
finally breaking 5. Thats right 4:58 1600 meter, finished faster than all the other laps and finally
broke the 5 minute barrier.
While over the past 4 years I have learned a lot about myself as a runner but I still dont
consider myself an expert. I still have a lot to learn in vocabulary and race tactics. These
stories are all minuscule parts that make up me being a runner. While this paper wont edit
itself over time personally I will. I will have new stories to figure out how I race and train well
and how I get more complex vocabulary about maybe biology to aid my running. What Im
getting at is running to me is never stagnant and will always be changing. Whether it is
progressive or regressive only time will tell and destiny will take its course. As for me Ill just
keep chugging along.