My body as a runner.

I decided to run cross country the summer before my freshman year. Before this I would have never considered myself a runner. I signed up for cross country because I wanted to do something different and my other schools I had attended didn’t have a cross country team. So the summer before freshman year I trained a lot because I knew that if I was going to make it through cross country season I was going to have to be able to run more than a mile without stopping to catch my breath, which is what I normally would end up doing while running. At first I hated running. I dreaded having to get up and run on a hot summer day but I noticed that it began to get easier and I found myself able to clear my mind when I went for a run. As running became easier to me I was able to start increasing my mileage. Like I said before this I was not a runner, so I began to loose a lot of weight from all the running. My family started to get very worried and they thought that I was starving myself and that I had an eating disorder. Which was not the case at all. In fact I was eating more than what I used to eat because running made me hungrier. I love running and I am so passionate about it and the way I feel afterwards but my family has never understood my love for running. They always thought I did it to loose weight and look skinny. I can not help the way my body has transformed over the years because of cross country. My body will probably not ever be the same way it was before I started running but that is because I had never ran a day in my life before. If I didn’t run I probably would be heavier and I wouldn’t be as thin as I am now but I am proud of the way I am. I may not have the curvy figure you see on magazines but I do have my figure. I look like skin and bones sometimes but I know I am strong and running allows me to feel strong and that is what I love.

- Anonymous