I don’t run.

Every pitch to get me to join cross country has failed. On any given day, I’ll take a cup of hot chocolate, a cozy couch, and a book over running in the rain.

So how did I get here, feet slapping against slippery concrete, sprinting for the golden yellow landing pad of our school’s Amazing Race?

It began as a simple “yeah, I’ll do it with you” to my friend Kira Sato, senior. She was looking for a racing partner and, silently, I was, too. We formed a team just before applications were released, and once we were actually holding the packet in our hands, I thought about quitting.

There was no way I was going to be good at this. I’m not a sporty person, and everyone else holding one of these packets was a runner, a player, an athlete. I don’t fit the typical Amazing Race profile for a contestant and probably won’t last long; it’s not worth even applying.

But then I thought about the teammate I’d made a promise to, swallowed my doubts, and started the application. 

Together, we made an application video themed around musicals with costume changes, information about ourselves, and bad jokes. We just hoped it would be enough to get us into the top cut to skip the Wild Card leg. 

We jumped for joy in the middle of the Papa Murphy’s parking lot when we heard that we had made that list and would be racing in the Amazing Race. I still had doubts about how I would do, but now we were committed to racing, and all I could do was try.

I walked into the school at noon that fateful Monday with trepidation boiling in my gut, and I knew Kira was feeling it, too. But we sat down at the ring of tables, just like we’d seen in all of the Amazing Race videos the past two years, and waited.

Brody Olson, senior, soon appeared at the podium, going over the rules of the race, the day’s theme of game shows, and, before I knew it, telling us to line up at the doors—it was time to begin. Kira and I high-fived at the doors to student street, ready for whatever came next, and prepared to sprint to the football field for our first challenge.

Our first challenge didn’t go well, nor did our second. It was the opposite of a strong start as we were one of the last teams to leave the Deal or No Deal challenge, where teams had to randomly pick black folders with hidden dollar amounts until they got to $500,000. Afterwards,  we left the Price is Right challenge, where we had to match prices to products, in dead last.

We were both feeling the pressure. We knew that someone was going home today, and we had no desire for it to be us, despite the doubts we held. That was our one goal coming in, and already we were behind. 

But we kept pushing, because, just like the show, it’s not over until ASB tells you it’s over.

We got our clue and instantly knew where to go; we ran to C101, where we found a math challenge. Adrenaline and primal math instinct overtook our team of two, and, despite coming in dead last, we finished the challenge in minutes and passed half a dozen other duos. We ran out of that challenge and onto the next in complete disbelief at our speed.

After that, we stayed at the front of the pack, getting to challenges alongside other teams and moving through them just as fast, if not faster, than the top teams around us. Match Game, Wheel of Fortune, we moved through them with great communication and teamwork.

However, we found the toughest and last challenge of the day in the library. This was the only real physical challenge of the day, due to running up and down the stairs, and it was brutal. I could feel our morale slipping with every stair-climbing excursion, but we did everything we could to keep each other and the teams around us optimistic. 

This leg was where we discovered the superpower that would keep us going throughout the next legs: positivity. Even when things weren’t going our way, we always gave each other grace and focused on enjoying ourselves, never putting ourselves down. 

Getting to have this experience together has strengthened our friendship and helped us realize how well we work as a team, because we’re both positive, and we both take strength from that kindness.

Even though we were exhausted from running up and down the stairs, we finished the challenge and pushed to find the landing pad, which, after a few minutes of searching, we discovered was at the tennis courts.

Crossing that mat and jumping over to hug my teammate, I felt a huge sense of euphoria. We had come in sixth place, despite starting off on the backfoot, and now we got to race again in Leg Two. Our only goal was not to get out first, and we did that, having so much fun along the way.

Looking back on our fifth-place finish in the Amazing Race, I’m struck by my change in mindset from when Kira and I were first applying. Each challenge we conquered gave me more faith in my abilities, and I felt so proud every time we made it to that mat. A competition I once thought I’d never be able to rank in has proved to me that I can face challenges, stay positive, and that anyone can be an amazing racer.