Cross Country Traditions

Cross country camp is full of traditions. Our traditions vary from playing ninja in the woods instead of running, eating as many Oreos as possible, or running away from the seniors as they pelt underclassmen with icy cold water balloons. Canton Girls Cross Country has hundreds of unique traditions, but some of them are a bit more painful than others. My least favorite and the most agonizing tradition by far is something we call “Dunes Day,” or as I like to call it “Doomsday.” This is the day in the middle of camp, right when the fatigue from running twice a day kicks in, where we face the treacherous and never ending hills of the Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes. Though I have survived running the dunes three times, I am surprised that I made it out alive my first time as a freshman.
As a freshman I did not know what to expect. I was shocked by the massive size of the dunes. The dunes made every hill I have ever ran look like a slight bump in
the road, and that’s saying a lot because our home course is at Cass Benton.
After our routine stretches were completed, we looked towards our coach, Eric, for further instructions. Eric was an avid runner himself and you could see the excitement in his eyes behind his blue-tinted sunglasses. As I looked around, I could not find the same look in any of the girls’ eyes. I was surrounded by looks of do-we-really-have-to-do-this and pure exhaustion. We hadn’t even started running yet!
Eric spoke up,“Alright girls, we’re going to be running up the steep part on the side of that hill.” He pointed, “ We’re going to do a 25 minute set, then we’ll have a quick snack, and tackle the rest of the dunes from there,” a crooked smile appeared on his face, “don’t forget to take your shoes and socks off!” While the other girls followed orders, I looked like Eric just told me to kick a puppy. I am not taking my shoes and socks off! Is he crazy? My feet are going to fry! Paige, a senior captain that I looked up to, saw the horror in my face and saved me from looking stupid in front of the whole team,“We don’t wear shoes or socks because we’d ruin them. Now hurry up and take them off before we get left behind.” I complied and whipped each shoe and sock off while trying to run ahead to catch up with Paige, who had already caught up with the rest of the girls. After stumbling over my own feet I made it just in time to hear the recognizable and awful BEEP of Eric’s watch that meant it was time to start our run.
I sprinted ahead to show off. This was yet another freshman mistake. My feet hit the burning hot sand and I breathed in sharply. My feet were on fire, but I did not want the other girls to see me struggle, so I tried to keep my whimpers of pain as quiet as possible. After about two steps up the hill my body almost toppled over and the incline forced me onto my hands and knees. The hill was so steep that I was forced to stay in this position and bear crawl my way up the remainder of the very tall dune. Each step I took I would slide back into the sand about half a step. I felt as if I were slowly sinking down to the bottom of the hill. Girls were passing me left and right.
Paige, seeing me struggle yet again, whispered under her breath,”Dig your feet into the ground so it doesn't burn as much, do the same with your hands, go as far as you can, then move to the side, and take a break. You can’t make it up this hill in one go.” Paige used her own advice and powered through about five more steps before moving to the side of the hill to take a breather. She looked down at me to do the same. Once I caught up to her, she was off again . She would take another five steps, then take a break. That’s when I would go to catch up with her. We repeated this pattern. We would continue to encourage each other to keep pushing until we made it to the top of the hill. This is where the parents were conveniently positioned to take a picture of our misery. Paige somehow managed to smile for the camera, but I was unable to mask the pain I was going through.
After our pictures were taken, we stood on the plateau of the large hill. Paige and I looked around at the natural beauty that Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes had to offer.
I looked at Paige and saw a wicked look in her eye,“Now here comes the fun part,” she laughed and slightly shoved me over, “Race ya to the bottom!” she screamed as she sprinted away. I screamed with laughter and started sprinting towards her in response. My legs had gone numb from the climb up the dunes, so the run down felt like I was floating on air. The hill was steep, so I was getting faster and faster with each stride. I zoomed by Paige towards the bottom, when I realized I did not know how to slow myself down. I looked back up to Paige with horror in my eyes as I imagined the crash landing that was about to take place.
“DROP AND ROLL” she screamed as she was hurtling towards me.
I did as she said and rolled down the remainder of the hill. She did the same. I reached the bottom of the hill before she did, and stood up. The world around me was spinning as I felt Paige’s body crash at my feet. I fell down again, but I was uncontrollably laughing this time.
“See, it’s not so bad.” Paige said as we were lying on the hot, sandy, ground. She was right. While the way up sucked, the way down was fun and made the whole experience worth it and without Paige by my side, I wouldn’t have been able to make it up in the first place.
Now, as I approach my senior year of cross country, I look back on this memory fondly. While Dunes Day will always be the bane of my existence, Paige taught me that you can get through anything with your team by your side. This memory also reminds me to give the freshman on the team a break. As I approach my final season as senior captain, I need to remember that I was in their shoes once and nothing’s worse than facing dunes
alone.