Differences In Cross Country

At Villanova, we believe that it is our similarities that make us strong, but our differences that make us stronger. Please tell us about a relationship that you have with someone who is different from you and how that has changed who you are today. The first few weeks of Cross Country were some of the hardest of my life. I was completely new to the sport after being persuaded to give it a shot by my more aerobically inclined friends. I had my reservations before I started, as I told my friends that I was not the running type and that I wouldn’t even last a week but I still reluctantly agreed to try it out. The first few runs were the most agonizing pain I had ever endured. I was a fawn among stags. I ran workouts minutes slower than our top runners . After finally finishing the day’s run and regrouping with the rest of the team, it seemed like the other runners barely broke a sweat. When I returned to the school from practices, I would go straight to icing my aching legs and recovering from the day’s grueling workout discouraged over my slow times. Thankfully someone was there to help. Jose, a junior, was essential to keeping me focused on improving. Jose had a way of
Jose was very different than most of the runners on our team. Most of our team were stereotypical cross country runners: middle to upper-class white kids that are too lanky to play football and too uncoordinated to play soccer.Jose completely reversed this stereotype in many ways. Compared to the stature of the other runners, Jose was like an Olympic weightlifter standing among the ping pong team. While Cross Country was the main sport of almost our entire team, Jose did it to stay in shape for club soccer. While most kids had their parents income to rely on, Jose had to work two jobs to be able to support his family. Despite all of these differences, Jose was was friends with nearly every member of our