The instant I stepped out of my car, I knew this would change my life. Still not sure if it would be for the better, or worse. For a while, I had been pretty skeptical about doing cross country. I didn’t think that I would enjoy it that much, but boy was I wrong! I made the final decision near the end of the school year, when I decided to do the Summer Running program for the purpose of getting running athletes prepared for the fall.

     The first practice I attended was a lot better than I anticipated it being. Due to seeing other sports, I assumed that the coaches would be constantly shouting and being rude. To my surprise, they gave the total opposite! The coaches welcomed us with warm smiles and open arms to show us how the team functioned. All the 7th graders looked anxious, just like me. The coaches and 8th graders kindly showed us how to do stretches, workouts and gave out lots of information. After about a week of practice, we finally had a practice meet. It was called “Intra Squad”, which is put on by the Emporia Middle School and High School cross country coaches for the runners to get a feel for the meets before they have an official meet. The morning of Intra Squad, I woke up bright and early, 6:10 a.m to be exact, and got ready. My brain was freaking out with all the nerves bottled up inside me! Once we arrived at the park we would run at, we helped set up the course and then began our warmup. A few longing moments later, the gun went off and I was running through the grass. All the way through the course all that was running through my mind was, “Just a mile, just a mile, just a mile…”. The next thing I know, I am sprinting through the finish line cutting off over two minutes from my time in practice earlier that week! I was jumping off the walls with excitement! After the meet we had a delicious breakfast and I got to see my new friends I had met on the team.

     Exactly one week later I woke up and got ready to head to Manhattan for my first official meet. I was nervous, but not as much as I was a week ago. After a very long, slow, tiring bus ride I was finally in Manhattan. Instantly, as I looked around and observed my surroundings I noticed how massive the other teams were. They were almost double our size, and with the largest schools, almost 3 times our size! This completely took me aback, but I was still able to have a successful run with a time of 7:58 minutes. This was a personal record for me and I was very proud.  After this meet we went back to practice and continued training for our next meet. Next we attended a race that was actually at a lake, it was at Milford Lake, the largest lake in Kansas. My time that day was not very good, but the course was hot, not shaded and had lots of hills! Everyone else’s times were slower too, due to the conditions of the course. The finish line was even at the top of a hill and kids were collapsing! I was able to finish strong though, which made me happy. The next meet after this was on the Saturday right after the last meet, it was our home race which gave us an advantage. Also, it was in the morning when it was significantly cooler than our afternoon meets. At this one, I got a personal record again, but I don’t remember what my time was. It might sound like all we have been doing is meets, though we actually have been practicing everyday after school. Our practices are hard and grueling, but they improve you as a runner.

     Now we are to the present day where we are just recovering from a hard week at work. We have had multiple hard practices but have an easy one today because we have a meet tomorrow. This meet is very significant, because after this meet the coaches will look at our times and decide who gets to go to our League meet, the most important meet of the season! I am hoping that I get to go to this meet (obviously), but it will be fine it I don’t get to. The team is such a great environment with everyone supporting each other! Even when we have hard days, we all show maximum effort and work to accomplish a goal. Our team always has pasta dinners before a meet because the pasta has lots of good carbs for runners. I really enjoy going to the dinners because I love getting to hang out with my friends, and I get to eat delicious food!

     If you are thinking about doing a sport, I would most definitely recommend cross country. It might be hard, but trust me nothing beats the feeling you get when you beat your own time. It is also good if you need to get in shape for a later sport.  The first few weeks are the hardest, but they will soon get easier the stronger you get. I hope that you might join cross country next year after hearing about my personal experience. And remember, you are trying to beat others, but more importantly you are trying to beat yourself!