Cross Country: The Essence of it All

Photo by Erin Rielly

With the conclusion of the 2009 Cross Country season for BHS, I’ve learned a very valuable lesson. Our meet this past Saturday was one of epic proportions; hard, pouring rain and muddy, wet puddles at every path. You’d figure they’d cancel a meet like that because of the weather, but that just wasn’t it. We ran through it with all efforts possible. Going through the puddles where the water is going up to our quads and getting dirt kicked into your face as if it was nothing. I think we all learned a very important lesson there. “When it rain, it pours”.

Except this meet wasn’t something to complain about. Every runner loathes for a day rain comes along during their runs because of how refreshing it is. You get drenched and you feel good along the way, never feeling tired and you could run for miles in the rain. I loved this meet from its start to its end. It’s my senior year, and last season of Cross Country. It was the perfect way to end the season with remnants of Hurricane Ida lying around Massachusetts.

This kind of weather condition really shows a person’s true character I think. To be able to fight the trenches of water so you don’t sink it is unbelievable, and to be able to continue moving your legs after being covered in piles of mud is showing true adversity in your surroundings. It’s the nature of the sport, really. You play a soccer game in the rain, and you’d feel the exact same way. Playing in puddles and mud with the challenge of getting that soaked ball into the goal. Football has that same connotation as well. I think rain makes it better for these sports, it’s really the essence of them all. I’m glad I got to end my last meet with a bang.