The Death Run

I’m an outside person and an athlete. I like hiking, doing community service, running,
swimming, and many more activities like sports. The thing I like doing the most though is soccer.
Soccer is something I’ve been doing my entire life and it’s something I’m really good at. I’m on
the Copper Hills soccer team, in fact I’m one of the captains for the team. I really want to take
state this year since it’s my last year at Copper Hills and I it’s never been done here before. I
really think we will be the best this year so I’ve been making sure I’m ready for the season but
sometimes it’s difficult to breathe due to the air quality being so bad.
For the Copper Hills High School team, everyone is required to run a two mile, which is
eight times around the track for a visual, in thirteen minute and fifty seconds for field players and
fifteen minutes for keepers. If the time is not made, then the players who did not make it get cut
and they can not do anything about it. The worst I have ever been affected was when I was
practicing for the two mile in the autumn, so it was fairly cold outside. Normally I can breath
pretty good without too much trouble until the end, but this particular run was extremely difficult
for me. Not even halfway through I was struggling to breath and did not think I could continue
running. I honestly felt like I was going to suffocate and my throat was closing up. The only other
time I’ve ever felt like my throat was closing and I couldn’t breathe was when I tried a college
soccer workout when I was like thirteen years old, and it was a scary and terrible feeling. I
pushed through and completed the run in the time, but I got my worst time yet with about thirty
seconds to spare when I normally have a couple minutes or so left.
Air quality affects how well someone can run, so if the air is polluted it makes it hard to
breath, therefore decreasing the time a player will complete the two mile and oxygen you can
get in your lungs which is then transferred to your blood and then your muscles. If oxygen does
not get to your muscles then they feel fatigued quickly. It gets especially bad in the colder
months when an inversion happens, which is where warm air traps the cold air near the ground
and prevents the pollutants in the air from mixing (Utah Department of Health).
The list of things we can do to reduce the pollution is extensive. We can reduce our
energy use by turning off lights, electronics and other appliances, limit driving by carpooling,
walking, using buses, or biking, and combine errands and not keeping your car idle and
maintained (New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services). There are also many
smaller things to do like using environmentally friendly cleaners, electric or hand powered
equipment, and using low-polluting engines. Air quality is something we can fix and if we fix it it’ll
benefit everyone.

H Department of Environmental Services. “What Can I Do to Help Reduce Air

Pollution.” ​Latex Paint - Household Hazardous Waste Program - NH Department of
Environmental Services​, ​www.des.nh.gov/organization/divisions/air/tsb/ams/aqmdp/share.htm​.

Utah Department of Health. “Air Pollution and Public Health in Utah.” ​Falls Among
Older Adults | Utah Violence & Injury Prevention Program​, www.health.utah.gov/utahair/