"I remember feeling awful, but afterward I felt so accomplished"
“When you run, most of the time your are actually airborne. For example: a 6 foot tall runner with feet about 1 foot long was found to take 1,250 steps while running 8-minute miles. Thus, while covering 1 mile (5,280 feet) he was in touch with the found for only 1,250 feet and airborne for 4,030 feet. Meaning, he was in the air for 76% of the time. So don’t think of it as 10 miles of running, but as 7 miles of flying.” -Unknown
I remember going to my older brother’s cross country meets as an elementary student and never understanding why someone would put themselves through so much pain. People would walk up to me and ask: “Are you going to run cross country when you get older?” and I would always snort and tell them “no way”.
My seventh grade year I played volleyball at my small school and hated every second of it. I didn’t get along with anyone on the team and didn’t enjoy the games in the least. I still went to every cross country meet, though, and watched my friends go through hellish agony in the form of long-distance running.
I shocked myself more than anyone my eighth grade year when I, for some strange reason (that I still can’t even figure out), decided to sign up for the cross country team. It was my brother’s senior year and I knew there was no way I was backing out of it with him pushing me forward. During the first practice I remember feeling awful, but afterwards I felt so accomplished in myself I was giddy.
Weeks passed and I began to see improvement, not only in my running, but in my mood and overall health. I loved everything about cross country and couldn't ask for better teammates to spend my afternoons with. It’s now my freshman year and cross country is going even better than last year.
I love everything about cross country, even the tough parts that are hard to look back at. Cross country is my sport, through the thick and thin, from pre meet practices to mile repeat days, through the best meets and the worst. Running is something I share with my teammates, and it’s something I can continue, even after I graduate and leave behind my friends. Cross country is a way of life.
“It doesn’t matter how slow you go as long as you don’t stop” - Confucius
- Anonymous
