Personal Essay: My First Cross Country Career

I have run cross country for four years. It has been one of the biggest obstacles I have had to face. Cross country is one of the most challenging sports. Runners must learn how to pace themselves and be able to keep that speed going for a little over three miles which is not easy. My first cross country season was extremely difficult. I had no idea how to pace myself, I did not even run at practice, and I put other sports over cross country at the time. Over the years, I have learned how to do all of that and more. Choosing to run cross country has been one of the best decisions I have ever made. In my second year, I started showing growth. My work ethic was transformed. I began practicing harder and running even we did not have practice. I started running all of practice and rarely walking during our 20 to 40-minute runs. I would run like I did in meets and that helped me learn how to pace myself better. I learned how to keep the speed I was running at for the entire race. We also started doing ab workouts in practice and I tried my very best in those. I used to never drink any

I became more determined and motivated. I began taking more difficult classes like Advanced Placement classes. In the beginning of my cross country career, I was determined to make my time better and I succeeded in that. I cut ten or more minutes off my time at the end of the fourth year. I never would have thought I would have been able to do that. Cross country also taught me how to believe in myself. When I started doing better with my times, I realized I could be good at it. In the beginning, I kept thinking to myself that I was not good at it and I would never would be a great runner, but I was a great runner even if I wasn’t the fastest. I was a great runner because I never gave up and tried my hardest. Cross country is and forever will be the best decision I have ever made. It made me a better person, athlete, and