Personal Narrative: The John Hay Cross Country Team

Of the more than twenty million Americans who are running today, most who start do so for the wrong reasons, with the wrong attitude, and tend to lose interest after a few weeks or months. Many quit. This is usually because they become concerned with superficial goals such as time and distance and never discover the more profound mental benefits that running offers. (Lilliefors 15)

“In running, it doesn’t matter whether you come in first, in the middle or last. You can say, ‘ I finished’ There is a lot of satisfaction in that” - Fred Lebow. I began cross country in eighth grade shortly after my brother joined the year before. He enjoyed it a lot, so I thought it would be fun. I’ve been on the team for two years. I would like to run for the rest of my life. Cross country changed my life positively forever. It taught me to push myself past what I thought was my limit. It revealed to me a great community of people and it taught me to leave my comfort zone.

Although I had only participated in the school Cross Country team for two years, I felt very connected to the team and wish I had participated my sophomore and freshmen year as well. Over the two seasons, I have made many great friends and learned the importance of working hard to achieve my goals. Throughout my life, my parents have pushed me academically, but never really encouraged me to try hard in sports or physical activities. Cross country filled that void for me and helped me become a more well-rounded person.

In all my life, I’ve never had a commitment that required so much of me as track and field, both physically and mentally. Towards the end of my high school career, track and field for me meant having to push through a difficult physical condition known as tarsal coalition, a condition that causes inflammation in my feet. With help from my coaches, I had to learn to endure past physical limitation and strengthen my faith in my abilities. By doing so, I became more confident in myself and I was able to help lead other team members to do the same. Not only did track and field teach me to lead, but it also taught me how to be a part of a team. I learned the value of teamwork through building relay race teams. In all relay races, I was either the

After every race, you can vaguely expect what you will see up on the clock. I know, now, how much I put in, is only as much as I can expect to get out. Running has helped me form some ideas that are still fresh in my brain but will hopefully help me become a better version of myself. Just remember, someone may have a lifetime ahead of them, but they need to make the last bit just as good as the

Our footfalls crunched along the gravel path as the four of us finished our first run at altitude. We breathed in the crisp mountain air, trying to force oxygen into our lungs. Slowly, we walked to the football field, where we played Ultimate Frisbee before eating dinner, showering, and going to bed. This is how we spent our first day at Jim Ryun Running Camp, hosted by Colorado College in Colorado Springs. Former Olympian Jim Ryun organized the camp with the help of his wife, son, and other coaches. Going to running camp gave me an opportunity to strengthen both my ability to compete in cross-country and my faith in God.

I wasn’t always a runner. Some kids are born into the running cult, but not me. We have a treadmill in our basement that my parents occasionally use when they got on a health kick, but neither of them pushed me to be a runner. During the summer of sixth grade, my mother was talking to our neighbor in our driveway. While they were standing on the blistering pavement, the subject of Cross Country came up. My neighbor’s son was on the high school team and it was doing a

I’ve always had a desire for running and when I heard Richland Center High had a Cross Country team, I knew I wanted to be on it! When I did start, it was tough. There were times my sanity would ask, “ WHAT IN THE WORLD ARE YOU

For 2 years I was a member of the Central Toronto Athletic Club. CTAC is a competitive middle distance running club that trains its athletes to compete in track and field and cross country events. It is a year round athletic club that is a platform for talented people of almost all ages to train and to focus on their self-progress as an athlete. At CTAC I was encouraged to push myself to test the limits of my speed, endurance and strength and to discover what my body is truly capable of. Running was a very satisfying sport because my achievements were directly proportional to the amount of work that I put in. At CTAC, I learned discipline, dedication and perseverance. I had to balance my schoolwork with daily practices or workouts, I ran six

They congratulated me and I saw and felt their pride. I, myself, felt pride for conquering my obstacles and overcoming my frustration. I had more confidence and even though Running Club ended after the 5k, I continued to run with my friends and my renewed confidence. Joining that club aided me to realize that I truly enjoyed running. My enjoyment for the sport influenced me to become a member of the 7th and 8th grade cross country team, along with the track and field team. Overall, my experiences in the Running Club guided my participation in running sports and improved my attitude toward those

I am an extremely passionate runner; my primary focus is to be an encouraging, hard working team member. This commitment entails running up to fifty miles a week, as well as lifting three days and cross training three days for about six months of the year. I pour my time and energy into this sport because it challenges me to become a tougher person. Cross country has taught me to keep a positive, growth mindset and to ruthlessly chase every goal. Additionally, I am best friends with all the girls on the team. I give them everything I can offer to make cross country the happiest place in the world. I am a leader, being named Captain of the ninety person team my senior year. No matter the sacrifice, no matter how I perform, I am ultimately on this team for my teammates.

In the world today, people have created different hobbies for themselves. Many people like to read different books from different genres. Some like to do life changing experiments for science. Some like to engineer robots that could help us in the near future. Some people like to run and run and run until they know that they accomplished something. This includes me. I enjoy running because it helps me ease of stress, in a way, and helps me grow my strength. And because I enjoy running, I decided to join the Cupertino Middle School cross country. Here I started to on the weekdays, not including Thursday, with a lot of other people. We would run around 2-3 miles everyday thinking that “good enough” is not enough. We went to many meets against

Throughout the active school year, I take part in cross country, track and basketball. I also played volleyball for a year, but I decided to concentrate on my main passion, cross country, instead of dividing my time and attention into two sports at the same time. I have been running cross country ever since I was old enough to run in the munchkin races. The sport has been passed down through the family, almost every single one of my siblings have run or at least tried it. In track, I have ran the mile and two mile since the seventh grade. These last couple years I joined into the long distance relays. In 2016, the first year we decided to start a relay it consisted of my sister, Victoria, Tristen Ness, and Sammy Swanson. The first time we ran

I feel like I’m a leader in my cross country mainly because I’ve been in there for three years and I am the only veteran there. This sport is a hard sport not because its intense running but it’s an unpopular sport not like football. Everyone that wants to do a sport they want to be seen to show off their skill. Let’s be real no one likes running, maybe that’s why coaches use that as a punishment and seeing that running is a sport discourage them that’s why less people join.

Running was a part of my life between 2014 and 2016, when I was still a young middle school kid. I tried out for the track team, and I ran for my first time in March. Track and Field was a new experience for me, I had