Messed Up Hip

Messed Up Hip

The day was very sunny, lots of kids running towards Haycox Elementary School. It was the last day of summer school. I was about seven years old at that time. I was excited but at the same time I was bummed because I enjoyed coming to summer school every day for six weeks straight. The last day of summer school was fun because there was many stations around the playground that were having fun games. I stood there as I saw many kids playing and having fun games. I will never forget the fresh air that was blowing towards my face. The grass was very green and the sun was very bright but that didn’t stop the kids from yelling and having fun. In fact it didn’t stop me either. There was one event in the playground full of fun events that stood out to me and that was the sprinting event.

As I was getting up I always liked to sprint and run fast. It was my passion until the end of my eight grade year in Jr. High School. Many things were running through my mind as I was walking towards the teacher who was running the sprinting event on the blacktop of the playground. He was getting the racing board ready for the racers. “I want to race also”, I said to the teacher who was in charge of the event. The teacher turned around and asked what my name was. I gave him my name and he added me on the racing board. I stood back and saw the first group of kids’ race first. There was about thirty kids including me who were in the race tournament. It was a winner’s advance to the next round kind of race tournament. If you lost once you were out and couldn’t compete anymore. As I saw each race I kept a high mentality and in my head I kept saying, “I can beat those two kids easily”. When my turn came for the first time in the tournament I got ready to compete as I was mentally preparing myself. As me and the kid, who I was racing against, stepped up to the start line we looked very determined to win. We waited for the teacher to blow the whistle so we could start the race. When I heard the teacher blow the whistle, I quickly started to run as fast as fast as I could. When I crossed the finish line I felt so proud of myself. I didn’t get to hear my time but it was pretty fast since the teacher said, “Congratulations! You move on to the next round. Nice timing by the way”. When I realized I won, I was very proud of myself. “Now just a few more races to win”, I said to myself as I was breathing heavily trying to catch my breath. As more and more kids got eliminated, my time to get my breath back and rest was shortened drastically.

I kept racing faster and faster kids just like me as I advanced to the final rounds of the tournament. I didn’t give up at all and I wasn’t planning to. I just kept running until I crossed the finish line every time it was my turn to race. After while there was only two finalists in the racing tournament, which was me and another kid that was as fast as me. I was ready and determined to finish this racing tournament in the top as first place, but things didn’t turn out as I have planned and envisioned.

Before the race my competition and I were having a side conversation as we waited for the teacher to get the race ready. “Good luck!”, “Thank you! Good luck to you too.” I said back to him. “Are you ready?” “Yeah are you?” “Of course!” he said. We both were determined and we were just standing there waiting for the whistle to blow. I was nervous but at the same time I have ever felt in my whole life. “On your mark… set… go!” (Whistle blows). As the whistle blew we both darted like a bullet. The whole time during the race we were neck and neck. It felt as if we were running for a good five minutes but it was only five seconds in the race so far. At this rate we would both be tying for first place, but that’s not what my mentality and determination wanted. Tying in the race was something I didn’t want to envision and experience so I pushed myself a lot. After a while I realized I pushed myself too much because I saw myself rapidly collapsed to the ground a couple steps from the finish line. As I pushed myself I tested my limit and went over it that my body couldn’t handle it and just gave up quickly. Pushing myself too much resulted in a dislocation of my hip which popped in and looked very weird to me. It was my left hip that I dislocated, and my right hip looked as if it was popped out compared to my left. As I tried to get up I was trying to hold back the tears but I couldn’t, I was in so much pain. Just one step and there was so much agonizing pain during this process.

After a few weeks I recovered from the injury and went back to running when the following school year began in late August. I was going to be in the third grade when I came back to school. At first when I looked back to this event I was mad and upset at myself for pushing my limit. Pushing my limit too far made me angry because I should’ve known better. After a while I realized that it wasn’t bad that I pushed myself because I could run for a longer time now and have become faster. My limit was tested and I pushed it too far. As a result I messed up my hip but in reality it helped me because I ran faster and longer than I could have before the injury. It was as if I had new hip installed on me. From this event I learned that I was a competitive kid as I was growing up. Most importantly I learned that I wouldn’t give up on what I want, and if I fail I’ll just come back stronger and better than the last time. This experience made me realize of the many ways that I can be when it comes to competition and also when it comes to learning more about myself.