Last Day of Track, Revision #1

    Wehn I lived in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, I participated in a school track&field team. Every single day running in the track meet was memorable to me. All among that, the Conference track meet was most memorable meet. About ten schools participated. I was supposed to run in three events. Right before the race, I heard a guy from the other school talking to his teammate, who was about to run in the same round with me, saying,
"Dude, you are definitely beating that Asian and go to the final round."
    I felt bad to hear such a thing. However, after the race started, I and the other guy were running 1st and 2nd. It was quite hard to tell who was going to win until we jumped over the last hurdle. After the last hurdle, I ran as fast as I could as my left foot landed on the ground. My friends were cheering for me, and I wanted to prove that asian can run fast, too. As I sprinted after the last hurdle, I easily passed the guy who was an inch in front of me.As a result, I was able to advance to the final round. I placed fourth afterall, which was satisfying result for me.
   The problem started in the 4X100m relay. I was nearly out of my mind because it was too hot that day. As a starter, I started running late because I couldn't concentrate. Despite my late start our relay team came in fourth, but as 2nd and 3rd team was disqualified, our team ended up second. After the 4X100m relay, 4X200m relay remained. Because I was too tired to start, I went to coach and said,
"Coach, can I be the third runner? I don't think I'll be able to start as usual,"
and the coach said
"Okay, sure, go tell Ian to change place with you and be the starter."
I was able to be the third runner. Our team was coming in sixth place. As the second runner passed the baton, I ran as fast as I could, but soon I became tired due to hot weather.
"It's too hot. I feel like giving up and just walk. Should I walk? But it's my last race. I won't be able to do such a special thing when I go back to Korea. I will not give up!"
I decided to run as fast as I could for the remaining 100m. However, I wasn't able to catch a runner in front of me. I felt really bad. I was about to faint, and our track team could have won the conference championship.
    As I arrived home, I posted on my facebook wall saying,
"It was my worst race ever. If I started a bit faster in the 4X100m relay, we could have placed first. If I ran like usual in the 4X200m relay, we could have done better. If I ran faster, we could have won the championship. I feel terrible today :("
      I spent my time blaming myself. However, I was surprised when I went back into my facebook wall. My friends left comments saying,
"It was too hot. It's alright!"
"You did your best."
It changed my mind when I read what my coach left on my status: "Hyrum , whatever you say, you are the bast. I know you could have run faster if it weren't for the hot weather. However, I was happy to see you not giving up. As I told you before, there was a guy who walked during the race because he was too tired, but you were different. Although you were tired, you didn't give up. It's not about winning or losing, but about the spirit. I'm proud of you!"
      The letter from coach made me feel better, and I learned a lesson.
Every competition, including sports, is not about the result, but your behavior. Although I lost the race, I was happy that I had a passion that stopped me from giving up the race.

Respecting the elders

Describe a custom from your country that you would like people from other countries to adopt. Explain your choice, using specific reasons and examples.

    When Korean moves to foreign country, it takes long time for them to get used to the culture there. Different behavior toward the elderly people usually makes them confused. Unlike many countries in the world, in Korea, people had no doubt that elderly people should be respected over thousands of years. Although this custom has lasted long, respecting elderly is still important today. First, elderly people have lots of experience that can possibly be helpful to young people. Next, in aging society, people should respect the elderly naturally so that they won't ignore the elderly.
    To begin with, elderly have lots of experience that can help and guide the next generation. It is because when young people don't have much experience as elderly people does, it will be helpful for them when elderly shows them what they should do and they should not do. For example, Vietnam War showed the American that war is not a good decision for their country, and shouldn't have a war unless it's inevitable. Lots of people died from Vietnam War, and they gave U.S a valuable lesson through death. After the Vietnam War, U.S became more cautious, which resulted in less people dying out of war. Young people should be thankful to their upper generation since they allowed young people not to repeat the same thing again.
    Next, in order to live in aging society, respecting old people will help a bit. People's thought about elderly have changed since rate of aged people increased dramatically. Most people think aging society, or elderly people in a negative way. However, negative thoughts about elderly does not make anyone feel good. Instead, if people think that respecting an elderly people is a natural thing, elderly people may be able to have a better life. For instance, I met an old woman who used to live with her children when I visited 'home for the aged'. She said that her life there wasn't that good. Her family didn't like her very much, because they thought she was useless. However, after she came into the 'home for the aged', she said that her life became better because there are lots of people who respects her, which made her feel comfortable.
    To sum up, I want other countries to adopt Korean custom such as respecting the elderly. It is because they have lots of experience that helps us live through and it will allow more people to have happier life in aging society. All in all, I claim that respecting the elderly people is a good custom that I'd like other countries to adopt.

Free Writing

   Because I'm a bit tired now, I would like to make my post short. I had a great day so far. I sprained my ankle a week ago. I sprained my ankle a lot of time because of 'prehallux syndrome'. People who has this syndrome have unnecessary bone, also called accessory navicular, in their feet. Some people who has this syndrome has weak feet when the bone pressures the muscle. Because of my weak feet, I sprained my ankle four times in past ten months.Since I hurted my ankle a lot in a short time, I felt necessary to take a rest.
   First time to sprain my ankle was last October, I sprained both ankle in a week. However, I couldn't stop myself from playing basketball, so I did, with sprained ankle, and even ran four kilometer in KMLA with it. At that time, I didn't felt necessary to take a rest, which resulted my ankle sprained for six months. Because I learned that taking a rest after I get hurt is important, I took a rest for a week. I didn't play basketball or run for a week. Since I was very active in sports, it was hard for me to resist all these. Not being able to play sports made my life boring, and I couldn't find any fun things to do other than sports.
   Today, I finally started playing basketball again in first self-study time. Although I couldn't play well because I didn't play it for a week, I was happy that my ankle was healed enough to play basketball. I felt so proud of myself, because not playing a basketball at all for a week, was a hard decision to follow, but I did. However, it doesn't mean that I can play basketball two hours everyday. I am sure that I still need to take a rest, but my life won't be boring anymore because at least I'll be able to play basketball twice to three times a week.