Why I run XC and TF and where it got me
I joined XC 7th grade year because at the end of 6th grade when we were talking about middle sports in gym class my gym teacher said that XC and track where the only sport I could ever be ok at. (It was probably true though because I have horrific depth perception and no eye hand coordination.)
I joined cross that fall and for the first meet it took me more than 28 minutes to run 2 miles and I was very proud of that time as I made the whole distance without walking. By the end of the season through very simple workouts I had gotten my 2 mile time down to about 20 minutes but I didn't love running it was just ok.
I joined track once the spring arrived because I thought I might like it and I wanted to say I had tried it. The only thing I ran all year was the mile because the coach needed somebody to put there because nobody likes running the two mile in middle school. Because I was one of two girls who were running the two mile I was able to go all the way to the conference meet. I was able to get my 2 mile time down to 18:07
8th grade I essentially did what I did the year before very simple workouts no training on the off season and yet I was still able to get my 2 mile track time down to 16:45.
9th grade xc was the first time I actually ran real workouts and had longer days and shorter days, harder days and easy days. The 5k time we did took me 39 minutes to complete so it was very surprising to both my coach and me when I ran a 28:09. He actually came up to me on the bus on the way home and said to me that he did not think I could run that fast and that he was looking forward to great things.
9th grade track was similar to 8th grade in that all I ever run was the two mile but it was different in that I had real track workout as well as easy days and harder days.
!0th grade XC and track may not have led to huge prs for me but it lead to me being a significantly better athlete all around and knowing what it's like to run each pace without having to look at my watch all the time.
XC and track has brought me so much joy I can not imagine where I would be without running. I found people I can talk to about the weirder parts of running without encountering confused looks, I found people who will encourage me no matter what but most of all I found a second family in a group of kids that you would think would be relatively intelligent people until you spend 4 hours on a bus with them. I found two girls that were willing (when there was nobody from the other team running the two mile) to run the entire 8 lap race next to me and behind me encouraging me all the way leading me to a massive pr.
Now my PRs are 26:22.01 in a cross country 5k, 14:50.69 in the 3200 and I am able to feel pretty confident about subbing in by running the mile or a leg of the 4x8.
I love XC and Track now and will be forever grateful to my 6th grade gym teacher who thought she was simply preventing me from being cut from another sport when in fact she introduce be into a community of people I never would have found on my own and 2 sports I love more than I have ever loved anything else.
- Anonymous
