Daniel joined the cross country team at his new school for one reason. His family had just moved to Lubbock, and running seemed like a way to meet people without having to talk very much.

He was not fast. At his first meet, he finished second to last, and he only beat one runner because she had stopped to tie her shoe. When he finally came around the last turn, his legs felt like wet sand. Most of the crowd had already gone to get snacks.

But one person was still standing at the finish line. It was Brandon, an older runner who had won the race almost twenty minutes earlier. He was clapping as if Daniel were in first place. "Keep going! You're almost there!"

Daniel never got much faster that season. But he kept showing up to practice, and by October he knew everyone's name.

At the last meet of the year, Daniel finished in the middle of the pack for the first time. He caught his breath and drank some water. Then he walked back to the finish line, and he stood there clapping until the very last runner came in.