Rugged Yet Rewarding: Cross-Country Season Retrospective
Joel Edison, in blue, maintains position on a narrow trail in the 5k “Flat Sac Invitational” race on October 23, 2023. (Photo courtesy of Flat Sac Invitational photographers)
November 10, 2023 Joel Edison | Editor
Why would you want to run? Almost 3 miles into the final regular season race, this question reverberates throughout my mind. As dust assails my desperate breathing and my exhaustion mocks my resolve, I prepare my last kick, my last acceleration toward the finish line. Struggling to maintain race pace, my body begs for the misery to end. When the struggle is most visceral, the sport is most thankless, I question my commitment to it most. I question Cross-Country’s cold early morning practices and meets, its physical repercussions, and its adversity during the race. Cross-country is a curious sport. So why have I grown to love it?
Although I may perceive Cross-Country as masochistic at times, the sport’s plethora of benefits and rewards outweighs its discouraging factors. Cross-Country is an accessible introduction for students not well versed in school sports, as well as a healthy and refreshing way to improve a current athlete’s performance. Furthermore, the struggle of Cross-Country is justified by the unique fulfillment and elation after fighting through and finishing a race.
Beyond the challenge of first joining, Cross-Country is a simple and accessible sport. Cross-Country bridges the gap between students and high school sports by building friendships, teaching discipline, and improving fitness. The sport requires no prior experience, and current physical capability is irrelevant. When I first joined the team, I had never run more than a mile at a time. Now, I can run four miles without stopping. Additionally, the Westlake Cross-Country team has definitely spurred me competitively to strive to match the pace of my teammates such as Kai and Jonah. Cross-Country provides an invaluable platform to form friendships with not only other freshmen, but also with upperclassmen.
While a 6:15 a.m. practice from Monday to Thursday (Wednesday after school) may dissuade many people from joining, running in the morning is both refreshing and invigorating. Once I crawl out of bed and begin to warm up, the proposition of a morning jog is not as torturous as it may sound. Though occasionally Cross-Country practice consists of interval runs, track workouts, and hill training, it is not always a grueling slog. In reality, Cross-Country practice is often a light 5 kilometer jog designed to rejuvenate the team without being rigorously demanding. Besides its health advantages, practice is often conversational as runners share playful banter. Furthermore, the stunning sunrise and vitalizing brisk morning air gratifies the commitment of an early morning run.
Likewise, many Cross-Country runners on the Westlake team shared the aspects of Cross-Country practice they enjoyed. “I get to see my friends first thing in the morning. It's just nice to do,” said Izaac Rietkerk, 9th grade. Both Kai Desilva and Aiden Hustead, 10th grade, noted the morning practices’ cooler temperature and how it wakes them up. Moreover, Jonah Lagandaon, 11th grade, mentioned the fact that Cross-Country doesn’t interfere with other school sports such as basketball. Although 6:15 practice is a tall order for some students, a morning run is rejuvenating, social, healthy, scenic, and does not conflict with other sports.
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While there is agony in the moment, the happiness and relief of finishing a race is timeless. The indescribable raw emotion and joy after overcoming the adversity of a race is Cross-Country’s greatest reward. The more insurmountable and challenging the physical and mental conflict is, the sweeter its victory will be. “[Crossing the finish line] makes me really really happy, because then I don’t have to run a race until next week… Sometimes you don’t place as well as you want to, but just knowing you gave it your all is a good enough feeling for you,” says Jonah Lagandaon, a 11th grade varsity runner of Westlake Charter High School (WCHS). Regardless of placement in the race, the essence of Cross-Country is its resounding, impassioned feeling of “I did it” after persevering through a race.
In retrospect, the memories emblazoned in my mind of Cross-Country meets are of jubilation - knowing I participated in something worthwhile. I’m most proud of my performance in the final race of the regular season, because I persevered through the tribulation and delivered my most unyielding effort. In the final stretch of the race, I opened my stride and outstripped five runners by 2 seconds or less. Though I ultimately placed 104th out of 211 runners in the varsity boys “Flat Sac” race, I broke the chains of my self-doubt and exhaustion to run my second fastest 5k time. Though running Cross-Country is often riddled by hardship and cramps, the sense of self-improvement and accomplishment is what resonates with me most.
The fact that Cross-Country has tangible health and conditioning benefits is fairly unambiguous, yet when bolstered by physical evidence the claim is palpably validated. Izaac Rietkerk, 9th grade, shared his running improvement as a result of his first season, “The summer when conditioning first started I could not run a mile without stopping, and now I can run three.”
Additionally, my personal speed and endurance has advanced notably after joining the WCHS cross-country team. My fastest recorded mile time in 8th grade was about 6:22, after running throughout the 2023-2024 season my peak time in 9th grade was achieved in the Leroy Green meet towards the end of the season. I ran a five kilometer race (5k or 3.1 miles) in 18:15, this computes to about a 5:54 mile split. By running cross-country I was not only able to significantly improve my mile time by almost 30 seconds, but I also maintained this faster pace for a substantially longer distance.
“By running cross-country you increase your physical capacity and it will give you 4th quarter strength,” states Jonah Lagandaon, 11th grade. “If you look at pictures of me from freshman year, I’m a completely different person… I definitely have a lot more endurance (now), and my physical condition is on a different level compared to how it used to be.”
Cross-country is not easy, yet that makes it all the more worthwhile. Cross-Country is a simple, accessible, healthy, invigorating, and rewarding experience which I urge you to try. Read more articles like this in The Expedition.