It’s well known that Cross-Country is a sport only for the craziest of the crazy people. We run miles and miles every day through the rain, hail, and even the occasional snow near the end of our season. Did I mention that we signed up for a sport that all about running? If that’s not insane, I don’t know what is.
So why exactly do we do it?
Well first off, it’s for the love of the sport. I personally couldn’t imagine an autumn where I didn’t have to go to practice every day after school and somehow still end up running on the weekends too. As much as we all insist that “No Coach, we really don’t have to do 10 hill repeats today,” we really do love the feeling of pushing ourselves to always run just a little faster or work a little harder. And let me tell you, you haven’t lived until you’ve finished a workout and just thought to yourself that you would never, ever be able to breathe again, let alone walk again.
It’s for the love of running, too. I do my best thinking when I’m running, not to mention I’m burning calories while I’m at it! I know I don’t speak for everyone when I say this, but honestly running is so effortless. It doesn’t matter how fast or how far you’re running- you just find your stride and go for it.
Finally, it’s for the love of the team. I’ve become friends with people that I never dreamed of knowing in high school through this sport, not only from East High, but from schools that we compete against as well. No matter how different we all are from one another, we all share one important thing: we’re crazy enough to do cross country. Through all the cookies eaten to the muddiest meets anyone can imagine- cross country has given me a second family that I wouldn’t trade for the world.
I’m a senior now, and looking back on my years at East, I’m glad I decided to do cross country even though I’m not a distance runner. I really don’t know what I’ll do next fall without it, but you all can bet that I’ll still be running every day and I’ll be one of those crazy fans at cross-country meets, cheering on East’s team to the finish.
