I rounded into the last corner of the 400 meter lap, in last
place, for the 10th time At Cross Country practice, Oct. 28.
As a three seasoned athlete I thought that running with the
Cross Country Team would be a good workout I could get though easily. But I was
definitely wrong.
We began the practice with about a mile warm up that I was
able to breeze through. But then we began the real workout. The run was 10 laps
around the Freshmen Soccer Practice Field, a little less than 400 meters each.
The first three laps were easy I was able to keep up with
the Top Varsity Runners. But then I found out that we were supposed to be
running at a Five Kilometer pace. So as the team kept up their paces I huffed
and puffed to try and finish each lap.
As we finished the final lap and began our one mile cool
down my lungs were on fire. As I finished the final one hundred I collapsed in
the grass completely exhausted.
After practice was over I found out that that it I “went to
an easy practice,” Ethan Lambert (12)
said.
“Probably one of the hardest workouts we did was 20 400
repeats on 60 seconds rest,” Lambert said.
After hearing about the hard workouts I felt lucky that I
went to practice when we only did 10 400s.
The runners on the team seemed to bond really well and had a
lot of fun even though they were working so hard.
“My teammates are really cool and fun to be around,” Matt Varner (10) said, as the main
reason he enjoys being a part of the cross country team.
The team worked hard every day at practice and it really
paid off. The team placed 2nd at the district meet and finished 7th
in the State Tournament.
I used to think that the cross country team just jogged
around school for a little while for fun, but after practicing with the team I
have a newfound respect for all the cross country runners. The team’s ability to go
through a grueling practice every day after school is remarkable.
