Well it seems like cross country season has just begun, and yet it’s also halfway over. The temperature is ever slowly making its way down and fall is coming into full swing. October is now here and it seems like all I want to do is watch Halloween Town and eat pumpkin flavored foods. October has become my favorite month since I started high school and I think it’s because of all the fun team bonding activities we do. Anyway this marks an iconic part in my season and my senior year for one incredible reason. I’m really having fun again.
Last track season was an extremely tough time for me. I was dealing with some medical issues that prevented me from running well, and it just made me a different person. I couldn’t seem to enjoy running at all. I didn’t want to come to practice, I dreaded longer runs, and just had no motivation or joy in what I was doing. So this summer when I started my recovery, I had kind of forgotten how to have fun with my running. I wasn’t hindered anymore, and I was slowly building back my strength, but for some reason I was still missing something.
Last week was really where things started clicking for me. I found myself excited to be going out for runs and I had some pop in my legs again. Workouts became easier to push through, and I kind of had a renewed motivation. I no longer feel pressure to perform and I’m just taking things as they come. I feel like this relief is really paying off for me. This past weekend I had the best cross country race I’ve had in a really long time. I didn’t feel like I had to go out super hard to assert myself and just tried to run my race. This strategy played out perfectly for me as I could feel myself getting stronger and catching people each mile. The feeling I had afterwards was amazing, I was able to compete with people that I hadn’t run with in months, and my hard work was showing.
Overall looking back at my struggle last year I wouldn’t change it. I’m starting to think it was the best thing that could have happened to me. I think what it comes down to is that sometimes you have to get worse to get better. Last season made me want to succeed more. Last season made me care about running more. Last season made me care about my teammates more. And most importantly last season made me understand things better. I understand that I am extremely blessed to be able to run at all, much less at the level that I can run at. I’m lucky to be able to run with such a great group of guys, and I can’t imagine what my life would be like without them.
I love running cross country again, a feeling that I had been missing for a while. The pressure is off and it feels great. I hope everyone running this weekend has fun and enjoys the start of October! It’s time to make the season count!