"Why I do what I do"

[Allie Lopez]

I am an athlete. I love all sports and I am continually playing them. I do this because it is who I am. I see myself as an athlete, and that is how I identify myself. I am a runner. I been running competitively since the age of nine, and run an average of ten miles a day. I do it because I love it. Most people don’t understand why a person runs, but I do it because it gives me a feeling of ultimate satisfaction. After completing a hard workout, the endorphins kick in and there is no greater feeling in the world. Everyday is a new competition against myself to push past what I thought I could endure and breakthrough into a new pain threshold. I try to push past the point of comfort into extreme pain to beat my previous time and ultimately win the race. I run to be a competitor.