In this post, I give you a complete narrative of my personal track and field experience. I document the highs, the lows, and the (eventually career-ending) injuries. I describe the successes, the failures, and everything in between; the mental health battles, the sacrifices, the brutal scrutiny, the love/hate relationships that developed, the exhaustion and physical agony, and I try not to spare you any details. She’s pretty lengthy. So decide now if you want to commit 20 minutes of your time reading it. This is your only warning. (: Full disclosure… I initially wrote this for myself. I didn’t really intend for it to go anywhere (until I was contacted by a couple of student-athlete mental health advocacy groups). In the effort of participating in the trend of “full transparency,” I – after much deliberation – decided to post this for those that were interested. I want people to understand that the reality of being a high-level college athlete is far