Cross country: a sport of endurance and mentality

If I were to ever experience that cliché movie moment when the girl, hair flowing in the wind, runs in slow motion across a sun-dappled field toward a joyous reunion with her loved one, chances are that I would ruin the moment by stopping halfway through, complaining that any exercise is too much exercise.

Running and I have never been on good terms. During tennis, I am “that girl” — the one who grovels and attempts bribery in futile efforts to avoid conditioning.

So, unsurprisingly, I was apprehensive when I learned that I would be joining cross country for an hour-long practice (the things I do for newspaper) starting from 2:40. If I thought running two laps around a single tennis court was unbearable, how could I be expected to run four miles without collapsing?

It turned out to be my lucky day, though, because I escaped from the dreaded Town Loop, a typical practice run around the surrounding neighborhood, and instead ran four laps around the football field with junior Casey Takahashi, who was nursing a shin splint.

I feel no remorse at having run less than one mile, since I discovered that the cross country girls run the four miles in under half an hour. With some calculation, I came to the conclusion that I would’ve taken a solid hour to complete the run. (The day before practice, I had seriously contemplated bringing a scooter to avoid lagging behind.)

Even with a relatively measly four laps, I experienced protesting leg muscles after the second lap, cramps after the third and a general lack of oxygen by the time I stopped, refusing to continue with a fifth lap.

We followed up with conditioning, which involved core strengthening, with timed exercises like bicycling in the air, crunches and pushups. The following day, I woke up, confused, wondering why my abdominal muscles were aching, until I remembered completing 100 crunches the day before.

After witnessing the ease and grace with which these girls run, my respect and admiration for cross country have increased exponentially. Never again will I complain about running during tennis practice, where the maximum amount of running is approximately half a lap on the track.

Truthfully, I must say the highlight of the entire experience were the cookies at the end. Offering cookies (with sprinkles, no less) as an incentive to power through practice is pretty ingenious, I must say.

Funnily enough, I have multiple sources reporting that the coach, Danny Moon, has already welcomed me to the team with open arms. Clearly, he’s the only one who has faith in my talent for the sport.

Perhaps one of these days when I have every assignment crossed out in my planner (delusional dreams of a junior), I’ll put on my running shoes and go for a run, training myself until I finally achieve that runner’s high. Or maybe I’ll achieve the same effect sprawled out on my bed, stuffing my face with brownies. Whichever’s easier.