Why Is Cross Country Important To Me
My heart beats like crazy, my stomach is fluttering with butterflies, and my palms are sweating like a wet towel. The gun is seconds away from firing and the moment I have been waiting for is finally going to arrive. This is how I feel before every cross country race, and this was by far the best decision I have ever made. Cross country to me, is the sport that has helped me with making new friends. The most important thing I learned was to not to be too confident, because it can cause a bad result.
It all started when Mr. Thomas, my Cross Country coach, comes into the school and introduces the sport. I was amazed. I’m not sure what it was, but there was a certain charm about the sport that made me want to do it. So I did it in 6th grade
and our team was insanely good that year. We ended up with an undefeated record and won Conference, which was our goal that year. Next, 7th Grade arrived as I got even closer to my friends. The whole grade got really close with each other and the best part is that we had little to no drama. Our season started off as if we just hit the play button from last year’s pause. We were on an unbelievable hot streak, with the front runner, with my friend Layla Nowaczyk, getting 1st on almost every single race. Afterwards, we kept on winning and getting even more confident. Then, we got super cocky and we said every single day that we would win conference, and we even took a winning picture before an invitational started, but we still won. I honestly felt like that was the silliest thing you can do, and the confidence kept on building. Conference comes up and something we were not expecting happened. We lost, and we were stunned. All that hard work, it felt like it was nothing because that what was our goal, and it was wasted and washed away.
That race honestly changed my life, and it ties to me how joining cross country was such a good decision. I am not as cocky anymore, and I now know what my mentality should be: don’t expect greatness all the time because life will sometimes bring you down, but you need to get back up. Because losing makes you stronger as a person, it makes you strive even harder for the next win.
It all started when Mr. Thomas, my Cross Country coach, comes into the school and introduces the sport. I was amazed. I’m not sure what it was, but there was a certain charm about the sport that made me want to do it. So I did it in 6th grade
and our team was insanely good that year. We ended up with an undefeated record and won Conference, which was our goal that year. Next, 7th Grade arrived as I got even closer to my friends. The whole grade got really close with each other and the best part is that we had little to no drama. Our season started off as if we just hit the play button from last year’s pause. We were on an unbelievable hot streak, with the front runner, with my friend Layla Nowaczyk, getting 1st on almost every single race. Afterwards, we kept on winning and getting even more confident. Then, we got super cocky and we said every single day that we would win conference, and we even took a winning picture before an invitational started, but we still won. I honestly felt like that was the silliest thing you can do, and the confidence kept on building. Conference comes up and something we were not expecting happened. We lost, and we were stunned. All that hard work, it felt like it was nothing because that what was our goal, and it was wasted and washed away.
That race honestly changed my life, and it ties to me how joining cross country was such a good decision. I am not as cocky anymore, and I now know what my mentality should be: don’t expect greatness all the time because life will sometimes bring you down, but you need to get back up. Because losing makes you stronger as a person, it makes you strive even harder for the next win.