As a freshman in high school, I qualified for, but did not perform well at, the state track and field meet. Many members on my team had won individual state championships, and on the long drive home, I made a goal to also win an individual state title. I trained all year for the 400m and was expected to win the district track meet and qualify for state. At districts, however, I false-started and was told that I was disqualified from the race and my chance to qualify for the state meet was gone. The emotions that I felt as I was told I couldn’t run, were overpowering. My hard work for an entire year felt wasted.
I thought the 400m was my only shot at winning a state title, and now that chance was gone. Even though I wanted to go home and forget the whole thing ever happened, I had the 300m hurdles coming up, where I would be running against the current state leader. I had mainly focused on the 400m and the 300m hurdles was a secondary event for me. It would have been easy to give a half-hearted race, but I knew that I still had to give my best effort. I accepted the fact that I was already disqualified from the 400m and there was nothing I could do to change that. I put all of my effort into my next race and was able to run a personal record and qualify in the 300m hurdles for state. That would not have happened if I had given anything less than my best. I spent the next week doing everything I could to prepare myself for the state meet. I worked on my block starts, improved my hurdle form and made sure my body was in top condition. This effort led to me winning the 300m state title. That is what the quote “To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift” means to me. It meant that just because I got disqualified in the 400m, I shouldn’t just give up, but still try my hardest. That would be giving less than my best and sacrificing the gift. Instead, I gave my best effort in the 300m hurdles, recognizing the gift I had been given and using it to its full potential.