"19th Place"

     One cold and wet Monday after school at 3:15 pm, I was waiting in Mrs. Leeman's room.  It was packed with kids all anxiously waiting for the race to start.  I was sitting next to Ashley, Grace and Jenna.  Soon my dad came up behind me, and told me to give him my backpack because it was too crowded in Mrs. Leeman's room.  I gave him my backpack and he left to put it in the car.

     Soon, Mrs. Leeman led every one of us kids outside to the starting line.  I was standing next to Ashley, Grace and Jenna.  I was very nervous!  I was looking at my feet.  Then I saw something squiggly, thin, and brown.  It was a worm!  I told Ashley, Grace and Jenna, "Look here! I found a worm!"  I then picked it up.

     Ashley said to me, "Please let me hold the worm!  Please!"

     I said to her, "Ok.  Just please do not lose it, Ashley."

     Ashley said, "Ok."

     So I put the worm in Ashley's cupped hands.  As soon as I set it in them, she dropped it on the ground!  I yelled at her, "Why did you drop it?!"

     Ashley said, "I don't know?"  There was around 4 minutes before the race, so I gave the worm to my little sister Jill.  She ran and found a safe spot and set the worm there.  Soon I heard the countdown to the start of the race.

     "5, 4, 3, 2, 1," then the loud bang of the gun which meant that the race had started!  I jogged first, but some people sprinted.  Most of the people who sprinted I passed because they used up all of their energy right away.  I felt so pressured at that moment, and near the end, I was running as fast as I could!  I felt as if my legs were going to pop off!  I was right on the tail of George Buerman.  I was thinking I was maybe in the 40th place, but surprisingly I was in 19th place!  I was very tired.  I won a medal because I finished in the 19th place.  20th and under got medals!

The End

Written by Lily Guenther

This entry won first place in the category of nonfiction, grade 1-4, in the George Putz Memorial Shawano/Menominee Counties Student Writing Contest, Spring, 2015.

Lily was writing about her first race in the fall of 2014, after just running with the club for few weeks, in the Shawano Invitational.  There were 63 kids from our running club who participated, and over 100 kids in 6th grade and under division.  All of our runners finished the 1.75 mile race.  For many kids, this was their very first organized distance race.  Kudos!