Long distance running is sport that requires a lot of practice and dedication if you want to be the best. One way to get very good, very fast is steroids, but there are many bad things about steroids that some people don't know.

Steroids are bad for you because they can affect your mood. A high school pitcher was told by his coach that he needed to bulk up so he started taking steroids and he got so depressed that he hung himself in his room.

Steroids also increases your chances of heart attack and stroke.

Steroids also effect your appearance in negative ways, such as acne, bad breath and yellowing of the skin.

First of all, people who are taking steroids are cheating themselves of a chance to be the best by earning it through hard work and dedication. They are also cheating other athletes that are in their sport by being better than them by using steroids, not with hard work.

I don't think I would be able to live with myself if I took steroids and beat other hard-working athletes, because the guilt would get to me. Marion Jones was an amazing sprinter who represented Team USA. She went to the Sydney Olympics in 2000 and won five medals. In 2007 she went to court and pled guilty about steroid use back even before she competed in Sydney.

Her Olympic medals were taken from her as well as other medals that she had won while using steroids.

This sounds like the guilt ate away at her until finally she confessed and got what she deserved. Overall, steroid use is bad for everyone and you shouldn't use it.

Jordan Kilhoffer

Heyworth