My Cross Country Running Memories
I hated running, ever since I was a little girl. In 6th grade I was forced to run a mile for PE. I had a friend help me through it and my time was, I believe 11 mins and 15 secs. Pretty sad huh? Back then I couldn't run for anything, the fact that almost three years later I would be running 6-8, even more, miles a day was just something that I would never see coming. But it did...
Three years later - my sophomore year of high school - I joined the cross county team. Within a few weeks my coach, Coach Perry, had me running 3-4 miles a day. After I finished my first 5K cross country meet for a time of 30:12 there was no stoping me. I kept to it and worked hard; I ended my first season with a PR (personal record) of 26:10, and was 5th out of 10 girls. By the end of that season, I was so into running that I wouldn't stop, I ran with my team all summer. My junior year PR was 23:21, and I ended my running career at Bayside High School with a time of 20:42. Now, I'm entering my junior year at UNF and am ready to start my second season of cross country. My PR so far is 20:37. My goal is to bring down this time to 19:37 at the least.
Before I go any further, I need to let you know how I was able to come this far. I couldn't have done any of this without the help and motivation of my friends. I met most of them when I first joined the team in high school. Bar far, the two who have made the most impact on me are Carolyn and Linsey. They are my best friends and I love them dearly. Without them I would have quit running a long time ago. We have so much fun together: from Linsey's cute absent-mindedness like, "Oh you guys! Did anyone see that beautiful sunset this morning?" to Carolyn's anecdotes.
I also have to give credit to the "stuuupid" boys. They are the life of our runs. They discovered the paint ball fields that we ran out to only to come back covered in paint, as well as the legendary "canal crossings," and who could forget painting up for the annual Flamingo 5K? As long as we weren't doing speed workouts on the track or anything intense in the woods, the boys would never fail to make our runs as exciting as possible.
I have to stick one person in here who I met after high school. This person is not on my team, but he motivates me to do things that I never though possible. When he gets home in the morning from work, he gets me up to run. He makes sure I try hard and keep in shape during the offseason. He is my friend, my significant other, my motivator, my smile, my determination, my demonstration, my heart, my everything. Without my Kenny, I wouldn't even be half the person I have come to be within the last year and a half.
