Why I Love to Run

 

Most people make fun of me when I tell them that I run Cross Country. They don’t understand why someone would choose to run multiple miles in 90 degree weather for fun. I will attempt to explain. First of all, no one cares about Cross Country. I don’t mean this in a negative way; I love my sport and so do all of the people who participate in it. But there very few people I know at my school that make plans to go watch a Cross Country race together like they would a football game. There is not much to watch, you go run in the woods for twenty minutes and then run out. It is fun for the people running it, but as a spectator there is not much to see. However, this is the beauty of the sport. For me personally, I don’t do well under pressure. I get stressed out and I choke. With Cross Country, no one I know except my family really comes to the races. It’s not like basketball, where you have an “off” game. Unless you get a cramp or are feeling sick, it is not as common to have a necessarily “bad” race. And even if you do, there is no one really there to see, and there are plenty of other races to redeem yourself in and your times will back up your talent. The actual running part of Cross Country is fun. It is such a stress reliever. When you’re running, it’s as if nothing can touch you. You leave all of your problems at the start and just keep running away from them. It’s like you’re existing in the bubble where nothing bad can touch you, and if you just keep pushing, you’re problems can’t catch up to you. It takes away all of the stress of AP classes and college and scholarship applications. With senior year being the busiest for me out of all four years, the only time I really have to myself is when I am running. The only time when I don’t have to think about anything at all except my pacing and hearing the sounds of my footsteps on the pavement. So for those of you who say that Cross Country isn’t a real sport, my sport is your sport’s punishment!