This creative writing page features a mock story titled Trimeet. This story features a high school athlete and her track team as they win a meet. Also, at the bottom of the page is a story that I wrote about my personal writing skills and some of my favorite stories.
Trimeet
“Knee circles” I yell out to my teammates during warm ups. This stretch in particular is important to me since I have knee problems, especially in my patella, which caused me to miss the whole winter track season earlier this year. At least I didn’t miss my spring track season because it’s always more fun being outside in the nice weather. Now, I have to wear a knee brace which is an inconvenience, but it feels great to be back and hopefully better than ever. Today’s practice is a “pre-meet” meaning we don’t work our muscles too much because we have a meet tomorrow. This will be my first meet back since my injury.
After stretching, my fellow co-captain Erica and I go ask our coach what the pre-meet is for today. Coach Smith says, “eight starts and five strides. Maddie you take the short sprinters, Erica you take the long distance sprinters.” I am thankful that we don’t have to run much because it is very hot and humid today, almost 85 degrees. The maroon track makes you feel even warmer because it attracts the sun and makes the bottom of your shoes hot. I am sweating in my Nike pro spandex shorts and green tank top, to show my school spirit of course. I always like to show shamrock pride because I love my school. The pollen level is high and the track is surrounded by tall trees and bright flower bushes, so I’m sneezing almost every five minutes.
Erica and I tell the team the plan for today’s practice and then we all change into our spikes. Spikes are running shoes that grip the track and help you run faster while sprinting. Spikes are not necessary, but they do improve running times. My 200 meter race time improved by a whole second from using spikes. It was the greatest feeling to see “Maddie Brown 200m dash, 27.0 seconds.”
Erica takes her group to the opposite side of the track so we all have space to run. The team lines up on the starting line for the 100 meter dash. We grab the blocks from the shed and set them up at the starting line. The blocks are meant for you to push off of in order to get a more powerful start to your race. I help the girls with their block measurements and then I set up mine. Everyone is randomly scattered in lines behind the lane numbers one through six. We all push out of the blocks with great force and then run for about 30 meters without stopping too short. After doing the eight starts and five strides, we all gather as a team at the end of the track, get information from our coach about the meet tomorrow, and say our goodbyes.
The next morning I wake up, have a healthy and filling breakfast, and head to school. I sit in class thinking about my race in a few hours. I’m nervous. I always get anxious before my meet, but this one is especially nerve racking because I am running against Allie Lahiff, the girl on the North Attleboro track team who beat me by 0.1 seconds last year in the 200m race. My track meet is after school but we get out of the last period a few minutes early to make sure all the track athletes get to the bus on time. Our meet is at North Attleboro High School, only fifteen minutes from my school, Bishop Feehan High School. We listen to music on the bus ride and get each other hyped up for the big race. Everyone on the bus is nervous to face our rivals in less than an hour, but we sing our hearts out in hopes to release the nerves. The Feehan girls and boys are on two separate busses because our team is big, which is a curse and a blessing.
We arrive at the track and all shuffle off of the buses. We gather in a spot on the turf and set up all of our things. We get our numbers and pin them onto our Feehan Track tank tops. It’s hot again, about 80 degrees, which is tough for running. We all take a deep breath in and get ourselves ready to win! My deep breath was filled with the smell of hot dogs, pizza, and other snacks at the food stand. I could also smell the sweat off those who simply cannot control their nerves. This meet consists of Bishop Feehan, North Attleboro, and Attleboro High School. The other two schools are our rivals, so this is a very important meet for all of us. This is called a trimeet because it’s three schools competing. This same meet last year was the last meet I ran, after that my knee was throbbing so bad that I had to get a cortisone shot and not run for months. I think I hurt up my knee even more by pushing myself to beat my personal rival Allie almost a year ago today.
My school is a private school but we are competing against two public schools. I thought my track team was big, but the public schools have double the size which means possibly more fast runners. The competition is large and we’re all eager to start the meet. There are 12 races in the order of events. Both of my races are towards the end of the meet, so I have time to relax, stretch, and warm up before I run. Today I am running the 200 meter dash and the 4×400 meter relay. The 200 meter dash is half of a track, sprinting the whole time. It definitely gets me tired, but it’s not too long of a race. The 4x400m relay is a run around the whole track but four people running in a group. My relay team consists of Erica, Ashley, Keira, and I.
As I wait for my races to begin, I sit on the turf with my teammates and eat a savory chocolate chip granola bar and wash it down with some iced cold water. As I sit there, I repeatedly hear the gun to set off races which used to startle me, but I’m so used to it now. It was the seventh event, the 400 meter race, and Erica was running it. I helped her warm up and stretch. Erica is a very strong runner but I always need to give her a quick pep talk before each solo race. “You got this dude, push out strong and use your arms. I’ll be at the wall” I say to my fellow captain. Erica responds, “will do, thank you!” Next thing I knew, she was in line receiving her lane assignment and getting ready to compete. Erica got assigned to lane two which is the best lane to race in because you start farther behind the other runners, so you have to chase the others. The runners in each lane all run the same amount but people favor lanes. For the 400 meter dash, the runners stay in their assigned lane the whole race. I positioned myself at the 300 meter mark, also known as “the wall.” The 400 meter runners all know “the wall” as the point in the race where you feel like your body is going to shut down. Your legs get heavy, it’s hard to swing your arms, your breathing isn’t good, but you push yourself because you only have 100 meters left. It’s important to have someone at “the wall” to cheer for you. I wait for Erica to make the turn and reach the 250 meter mark, that is when I start cheering and yelling for her. “Keep going Eri! You got this! Breathe. Push” belts out of my mouth. She pushes forward and gets in the lead. Erica is a very strong and fast runner that never gives up. Erica crosses the finish line before anyone else, and she won! I knew she would. She is so out of breath and looks ill. That is exactly how you feel after you finish the 400m race. She looks pale, like she is about to throw up, but she is still standing. The official gives the girls their times and they all walk off the track. I hear Erica’s time which is 65.0 seconds. She got her personal record for the 400 meter race today and against our rivals too! I give Erica a big hug and say “great job, you deserve it!” Erica responds saying “thank god you were at the wall Maddie, I felt like I was going to pass out, but then heard you yelling so I pushed myself forward.” I love hearing my teammates say that they heard my cheering and that it helped them because it makes me happy that I can be there for them as a captain and as a friend.
Three events later is the 200 meter dash. I start to warm up, stretch, and get myself ready to compete. My friend and teammate Ashley is running this race with me. We walk over to get our lane assignments and put our stuff down. I take my running sneakers off and go to put on my spikes. I can’t find them. Where are my spikes? Oh no! I knew I was going to get my pre-race nerves but now I can’t find my spikes! I’m trying to remember where I put them. Maybe I put them in the wrong backpack. I don’t have time to look. “What size are you,” Ashley asks. “I’m size 8,” I respond while praying that she’s the same size too. Ashley, my savior, responds “same, you can wear mine since you’re running before me!” Very thankful I rush to shove my feet into her spikes and walk over to the starting line. This is when I start to get anxious and my pre-race nerves are going crazy. At the end of the day I am just trying to run better than I did last time, and beat Allie of course. I also want to beat my personal record, but it’s going to be hard. I am in the first heat which is the varsity heat, meaning it’s the fastest and most competitive. I am in lane three which is a good lane because it’s in the center. They call us onto the track and I do a few stretches and jumps to get my muscles heated up one last time. I make sure my blocks are set up to my measurements. Of course Allie is in lane two, right next to me. “Good luck” she says to me, and I wish her luck too. The official yells “on your mark” so I get down in my start position and set my feet on the blocks. The next step is “set” and finally the gunshot to start off the race. I use all my force and momentum to push out of the blocks and continue to push hard for the first few strides. After my first few strides I catch up to the girl in lane four. I begin to coast for a little while to save some energy, but I’m still sprinting. I turn the corner and hear my teammates cheering for me which makes me run even faster. I start to pick it back up and push myself. I am 50 meters from the finish line. I am tied with Allie, so I’m pushing extra hard in hopes of beating her. It looks like we cross the finish line at the same time. However, the official reads off our times, and I came in first! I didn’t beat my personal record, but I tried my best and that’s all that matters. I run across the turf, back to the starting line to give Ashley her spikes. The official is mad that we’re holding up the race and doesn’t want to wait, but he does. Finally, I run back over to the finish line to cheer on Ashley who is in the heat right after me. I barely make it all the way back because I am so out of breath, but I see her finish the race. She came in second place but ran a good race.
After going back to retrieve my shoes from the turf, I walk over to my bag to get some water and rest for a few minutes. I hope to find my spikes in my bag so I can wear them for my relay race. I’m thirsty and tired. On the way over to my bag, Keira runs over to me and hands me my spikes saying “I thought these ones were mine, sorry!” It’s alright though, at least I found them!
My relay team is warming up, so Ashley and I jog over to join them. We practice passing the baton and run a few strides on the turf. The official is yelling for the 4×400 meter relay teams to check in. Us four give each other a quick pep talk and remember that we have to win since we lost last year! We get our lane assignments and gather by the starting line. Keira is the first leg, so she starts off our relay and runs in our lane the whole time. I am the second runner so I stand on the track behind all the first leg runners. The gunshot goes off and we all start cheering for Keira. I watch her passing other runners, but I am still a little nervous. All six girls come around the last corner at almost the same time. Keria is in second place so I stand in the second lane to receive the baton from her. As she gets closer, I get myself ready to start running. I take a few slow strides forward and put my left arm back to retrieve the baton. We have a clean handoff and I cut into the first lane. I begin sprinting while trying to remember how long the race is. The 400 meter race is one of the most challenging because you have to sprint but it’s also a long race so you have to coast at some points. I am pushing myself and keeping up with the girl right next to me. I like having competition because it makes me run even faster. We chased each other but I finished first. I hand the baton off to Ashley and she pushes out into the lead. Ashley runs a good race, in first place the whole time. After Ashley finishes, she hands off the baton to Erica, the last and strongest leg in the relay. Erica is sprinting faster than I’ve ever seen, no one is even close to her. At the end of the relay, Erica beats everyone by almost a whole two seconds and our relay team wins! We all cheer and congratulate each other on the win. I’m so grateful that all of our hard work, since this meet last year, has paid off!
At the end of the meet, the officials count up all the scores and declare Bishop Feehan as the winner of the trimeet. We are all so excited because of the triumph. We beat both of our rivals, and we came out on top! The meet was a challenge and it was very difficult, but we trained so hard for this so it feels great to have won. This isn’t all about winning, but the life of an athlete is sometimes a struggle, so a win definitely makes you feel good. All the athletes ran a strong race and tried their best. It was a good day to be a part of the Bishop Feehan Track team!
My Writing
I would consider myself a strong writer; I am an English Communications major after all. I thoroughly enjoyed taking the creative writing course at Salve Regina. I believe I benefited from taking this course in many ways, but especially by improving my writing style and creativity skills. Before taking this course, writing creative pieces was not my strong suit. After this semester I feel confident in writing a strong creative piece for a professor or even a job in the future.
The Imaginative Writing textbook was very helpful in my learning and development into becoming a stronger writer. The textbook assisted and pushed me to interpret concepts deeper than I would’ve in the past. Throughout the semester, I learned an abundance of information and writing rules that have all helped me to become an overall stronger writer. Specifically, I learned about concrete and significant details, and especially the importance of details in a story. Details not only help the reader develop an image while reading, but also give the character, place, or scene more focus and specificity. Details also allow the story to seem more vivid, alive, colorful, and entertaining. Chapter four focused on character and the five methods of presenting a character to the reader through: image, voice, action, thought, or indirectly telling. The textbook also taught me a lot about setting, mood, symbol, and action. Mood is very influential to every story because it creates an atmosphere in which the reader is reading and experiencing the events that unfold throughout the story. The book talked a lot about development of a story and revision. The book presented a checklist type of list in chapter seven of what to do when writing a paper. For every paper I’ve written, I’ve tried to remember these six steps: develop a draft, structure your essay, research the topic, make some revisions, edit what is needed, and lastly the workshop which is having someone else look over your paper because someone else’s eyes can help catch something that you might have overlooked. I think everything I’ve learned this semester has helped me become a stronger and more professional writer overall, specifically creative writing.
A story from the Imaginative Writing textbook that stuck with me was “Beauty”. This story, Beauty: When the Other Dancer Is the Self, was written by Alice Walker. This is a true story about Alice herself over the years from a young girl to becoming a mother herself. The overall theme and tone of the story is bright and happy at the beginning, but then after the narrator’s eye “accident” it becomes dark and sad. The story has repetition, specifically the line “you did not change” which was repeated from the narrator’s mother and sister throughout the story after the accident. I loved the plot of this story along with the powerful dialogue in many scenes. I think the most powerful dialogue in the story is at the end when the narrator’s daughter said “mommy, there’s a world in your eye.” This was a very moving line because after the narrator heard that, she fell in love with and embraced her insecurities. I also really loved the voice of the narrator, she used great descriptive language to create a full picture in my mind. The image in my head was so clear because of such great imagery that the author used throughout the story. I remember the very detailed description of what the narrator used to look like as a little girl, to how her eye appeared to herself and others after the accident, to how her daughter viewed her eye at the end of the story. The character development of the narrator, Alice, throughout the story was unmatched by anything else I’ve read. As the reader, I could empathize with Alice when she was so distraught after the accident. I’ve never experienced such a horrifying accident, but I feel like I was almost present in the story as her friend because I knew so much about her character.
Overall, I think my favorite story that I read recently is The Things They Carried. I really enjoyed reading this piece for many reasons. The story line kept me intrigued the whole time and the repetition of what “they carried” added much detail to the story. I think the story had a great plot, very good character development, important dialogue, and necessary conversation. I also really enjoyed writing my own essay about the things I carry. I enjoyed seeing how many things I both physically and emotionally carry in life written on paper. I think writing everything down made me an even stronger writer and individual all together. I liked the concept of sharing my essay in small groups in order to get feedback on my writing and ideas for revision from both my peers and Dr. McClanaghan. I also really enjoyed reading my classmates essays and providing feedback to them about their writing and areas to look at for revision.
Revision is very important and necessary when writing a paper. Revision is one of the six steps that was presented in chapter seven of the Imaginative Writing textbook. Editing and revising your essay is very important because almost everyone makes mistakes and errors. Some mistakes may be common grammar or spelling errors, while others can be craft errors. Something I struggle with sometimes is going off topic or rambling on. I find myself struggling to just answer the prompt without providing some details which may seem unnecessary to some people. However, revising my essays and reading them out loud always help me catch most of my mistakes. Another important component of revision is having someone else revise your essay too, because sometimes you can overlook mistakes in your own piece that others might catch. I know from past experience that I tend to edit other people’s work more diligently than my own. I used my revision skills that I learned from the book to revise my essays for this class and other classes as well. I made sure to check if my story or essay had a good voice, provided enough detail, established a good theme, had a strongly developed character, ect.
Lastly, I grew in my knowledge about poetry. I’ve never been a great poet, but at least I know it! Poetry isn’t all about rhyming and making the lines flow together, it’s also about telling a story and expressing it in shorter length than an essay. I wrote a poem that introduced myself, how I view myself, and how other people see me. I enjoyed writing this poem on my short poetry journey that sadly came to an end.
Overall, I learned a great deal about writing short stories, writing about myself, interpreting stories more deeply, revising my own and other people’s work, and lastly a little bit of poetry.
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