Wednesday, August 12, 2015

Why Cross Country is AWESOME, and why more kids should come findout....

There is this HUGE misconception that to run XC you have to be fast and really LOVE running. This not true. So totally NOT true. Particularly in high school there are very few that truly LOVE running. Little secret: most just tolerate it. But why? Well for one; when you run a lot, which most XC teams seem to do, you can eat a LOT.  This sorta sums it up:
http://theoatmeal.com/comics/running2




 Which is crazy right? But no. Completely true. So if you love to eat, but feel a little bit bad about it. Come run.
Second reason. You get to hangout with pretty awesome people. XC is one of the few sports that allows introverts and extroverts to co-exist on the same team. Not just that. It's proven that XC teams have high GPA's, which has got to count for something? If nothing else they are great for study groups (on long bus rides to cool places to run).
Which basically means if you feel like this:

It's ok... because you are NOT alone.

Seriously. It's 3.1 miles. If you run in about 10min/mile that's slightly over 30min, which in reality isn't bad. It's the same time as a lame TV show with commercials. Or an awesome episode of Bones off the DVR. 

Yes there is practice. But practice is more than just :GO RUN. There's a lot of joking, overall fitness (sworkit anyone?)



And overall comradely.




So that's the thing. Not everyone gets an amazing runners high after every run. Not everyone loves the sound of solo shoes on a dirt road. Not everyone pushes for that medal. Some of us (a LOT of us) just run to eat, to be with people, and sometimes to just get fit no matter how much we hate it.

I'm super excited about this season. I want others to know the passion and joy running can bring, but I'm good with just doing it to get better at a fall sport.  Which trust me... you will. 

Practice starts tomorrow. Come out and play! We'll being doing a few jogs, some sworkit, and I'm sure a lot of jabbering about random things. Because really. That's what runners are good at: eating, enduring, and making fun of the two!

P.S>
In preference to this post, we (being 5 runners, two coaches, and one amazing husband/camp cook) just returned today from a 3 day running/team bonding camp. It was good. Really, really good. And not because we blasted through trails at record speed, or set a world record for push-ups , but because we didn't. That was not the point. The point was: climb mountains, traverse trails, do a few jogs between, and get to know your teammates. Which we did do, along with eating some amazing food. This leads me to the real point of this post: Cross Country (XC) is AWESOME. Not because everyone needs to be fast, but because they DON'T. It's awesome because you can be You. It's a completely individualized sport that allows for awesome team bonding to occur!