As Usain Bolt crossed the finish line to win the men’s 100-meter final of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, a younger high school sophomore version of myself sat on the edge of my couch in absolute bewilderment. How a human being could run 100 meters in 9.69 seconds was incredible to me.
A few days later, Bolt would break an Olympic record in the men’s 200-meter final, finishing the race in 19.30 seconds. Again, I was amazed as I sat on my couch, and I was inspired, too. I want to run like that, I thought.


That thought stayed with me as the 2008 Olympics came to a close and summer came to an end. On my first day of school, I visited with the track and field coach and asked if I could join the team. I told him I wanted to run the 100-meter dash. Up until then, I had only played soccer, but despite my lack of experience running track, Coach Guillory agreed to let me on the team.
After a few weeks of watching me run at practice, Coach broke the news to me that my body type and lack of experience might be best suited for running distance events. My Olympic dreams of running the 100-meter dash were, well, dashed. Regardless, I kept at it and ran the 800-meter race, the mile and also ran for the cross-country team. Although I never made it to the Olympics, watching Bolt eight years ago inspire me to run and I haven’t stopped running since then—I’m currently training for my first marathon.

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