Cross Country Kickoff

The Cross Country season has officially started and the runners are ready to bring the heat.

What+a+rush%3A+The+FHC+Cross+Country+boys+jog+to+cool+off+at+a+meet.+This+meet%2C+in+particular%2C+was+the+Nike+Fleet+Feet+Kickoff%2C+which+took+place+on+August+28%2C+2018.+

Ally Huffman

What a rush: The FHC Cross Country boys jog to cool off at a meet. This meet, in particular, was the Nike Fleet Feet Kickoff, which took place on August 28, 2018.

Aayushi Shah, Editor-in-chief, The Odyssey

Cross Country is a sport in which seconds can make a difference. Runners start to prepare for this as Cross Country season swings into action. The runners are pumped for the upcoming meets. They practice relentlessly everyday to succeed in their events and proudly represent FHC. The practices have been off to a great start with members cherishing the highs and the lows and everything in between. Sophomore Lauren Guth agrees with the sentiment that although there are quite a bit of lows, the highs outweigh them,

 

“It’s really tiring and it takes a lot of your energy, but competing, like actually going to the meets, makes the practices worth it. And [it’s] competitive because the kids are so fast so the races are just a lot of fun,” Guth said.

 

While the aspect of competing is something the runners thrive off of, they also love the feeling of being on a team, Junior Nathan Tucker said,

 

“There’s a lot of camaraderie because you’re all running as a group and all trying to improve as a group,” 

 

The consensus among the group is definitely that friends seem to influence how runners perform in races. This is primarily because the group of students run together, so it’s their main support system. They are all going through the same thing – the heat, the race, and the persistence. The runners practice everyday except Sunday to keep up with their training. Coach Michelle Breuer believes that training this hard is important primarily because most runners don’t run in the summer, so at this point in the year, they are trying to get back into shape.

 

Junior Andrew Houmes talked about a specific aspect of their training: the runners have something called speed days. On these particular days, the runners train harder in comparison to most other practices.

 

“That’s just the days where you get the hard training, you gotta do it. It’s all about how you prepare,” Houmes said.

 

Tucker strongly believes that the runners have a positive strong attitude towards running; they know they have a goal to get to and they’re willing to work their hardest.

 

“What you put into it, you get out of it,” Tucker said.

“What you put into it, you get out of it”

— Nathan Tucker