We all make mistakes. Sometimes, it is hard to admit them. However, there is a magic power in this world that can give us the courage to do so.

I grew up in a small town in Ohio. There was a man in town that everyone seemed to know. We all called him Bob. Bob was uneducated. It seemed that because he was good-natured and not very smart,every one teased (戏弄) him.

One day when I was sitting on the porch, he came walking by. I was about 12 years old and thought it would make me feel grown up to tease him like some adults did in the town.

He asked how I was doing. I told him that my father had lost his job, and that we were short of money. I could see my friends laughing in the background so 1 went on with the lie. I had him fooled so completely that every time he asked me a question, I would make the situation seem worse and worse.I knew he made a meager (贫困的) living doing odd jobs, so it seemed funny when he asked me if we needed anything. I told him that we didn’t know if we would have enough to eat. He replied, “You poor thing. I will pray for you.”

That night I heard the door rattle (沙沙响) softly. I thought it was the wind beating against the door. So I didn’t pay much attention to it. Later when I opened the door to go outside, I realized it wasn’t wind.

On the doorstep, I found a box of food with a note beside it.

The next evening, with a big apple pie made by myself, I stood at the doorstep of Bob’s house.

“Dad, are you sure there will be a bar of chocolate?” I asked, lining up with Dad and Uncle John near the back of many runners in Los Angeles. My first marathon. It was pouring rain, my legs were cold, and I was wishing I hadn’t been too nervous to eat a bigger breakfast.

“There were tables of chocolate bars every mile at my last marathon,” Dad said.

Suddenly everyone around us started moving. Way up ahead I saw smoke from the cannon (手枪). Our marathon started.

“You go on ahead,” Dad said, panting. “I’ll see you at the end.”

Uncle John and I zigzagged through the runners. Soon Dad was way behind. We reached mile 5, but I still hadn’t seen a chocolate bar anywhere. Instead, the streets were lined with fast-food places. I smelled the food as I ran — doughnuts, hamburgers, fries.

By mile 8, I was starving. How I wished I’d eaten six pieces of toast, eggs, bacon, ... It was raining so hard. My hands stung from the cold.

On the balconies people yelled and waved to us. At mile 10, I took a power gel (能量胶) out of my pocket and tried to open it, but my hands were so cold as if they had been frozen into fists. When I rounded the corner, I saw my aunt and my little brother cheering for us. I wanted to stop and talk, but I couldn’t get out of the flow of runners. The road ahead was yellow. Thousands of banana skins everywhere. Food at last! I grabbed a banana and wolfed it down.

Mile 15. I looked down at my feet and watched them run across the stars. There were tables full of power gels. I took one and tore it open. My hands had come unfrozen. I squeezed the packet and filled my mouth with sweet stuff. Chocolate would taste better.

My legs ached and I didn’t want to run another inch.

I was running at full speed, and the crowd was yelling just for me.

A man’s voice came suddenly from the loud speakers: “Participants in the Five-Mile Junior Fat-Tire Race, please gather behind the orange flags.”

Hannah was very excited. First prize was a blue mountain bike. On such a bike, she’d fly through the woods.

“Good luck, junior mountain bikers,” the loud-speaker voice came again. “Three, two, one, and go!”

The lead-out was a girl with red braids(辫子). She pedaled off hard down the dirt road. The racers followed behind.

The girl with red braids made a turn onto a part of single track and gathered speed. Hannah pulled up behind her, who sped up again. Hannah followed close behind her.

Hannah watched for the orange arrows(箭头)marking the course and biked through the muddy fields. At the edge of the forest, the girl was kneeling(跪)by her bike. She must have gotten a flat tire. Hannah biked faster. She wiped the sweat from her eyes, breathless. Now Hannah was close enough to see the girl putting the chain on the chain ring.

Hannah felt a jolt of energy as she passed the girl into the woods. Maybe she could win.

In the middle of a small meadow, Hannah looked back. The girl was coming up behind her at a fast speed.

Hannah entered the woods again. At a fork(岔口)in the trail, to her left, was the sign with the orange arrow. When she turned, her foot slipped off the pedal, and she accidentally kicked the sign over.

I need to stop and fix the sign, she thought. The other racers might get lost. But even as she was thinking this, her feet kept moving faster, faster.

“Hannah Anderson, winner of the Five-Mile Junior Fat-Tire Race!” a voice announced as she passed the finish line.

“Hey!” Hannah turned and saw the girl with the braids jumping off her bike.

Looking at the new mountain bike, Hannah made a decision.