For many high schoolers, the coming of August means one step closer to the beginning of the school year. For my high school years, August meant cross country season: long runs, new shoes, intervals, and lots of water and pasta. Cross country holds my best memories from the Academy. As the season begins for my old teammates, I can’t help but wish that I was still running with them. We evolved from a team into a family. Yes, the sport was painful. Yes, I hated it at times. But I never want to give up those long runs and the lessons I learned with my team sisters.

1. Those who stay will be champions.
My coach repeated this to us over and over throughout the seasons to the point that we got sick of hearing the words. Little did we know that he was right. My junior year, our small team went into the State Championship ranked as number one in our state association. We finished the race as state champions and walked away with medals adorning our necks and a trophy in our hands. Throughout the season, people dropped out. The sport is undoubtedly hard, but those who stayed became champions. Stay and the hard work will pay off.

2. Set goals and don’t rest until you have achieved them.
At the beginning of each season, my coach made us all write down five personal goals and five team goals to strive for that year. Having the goals tangible and visible made them feel attainable and real. Once we would finally accomplish a goal, we could cross it off and set another to take its place. We improved, we exceeded expectations, and we would not let ourselves or our team down with our goals in mind.

3. Encourage your teammates and embrace them like family.
My freshman year, before each race, we were each given a notecard and assigned a teammate to write an anonymous letter of encouragement to. Five years later, I still have all of my cards and cherish the words on them. During each race, I would repeat the words in my mind and hear my family cheering for me, pushing me to try harder. Their voices were the motivation I needed to race to the best of my ability. Even if I felt too tired, I knew that I still had more in me to give for my team.

4. Your coaches want you to be the greatest that you can be.
They are supporting you every painful step of the course and are your biggest fans. Even when you feel broken and hurting, they will support you, encourage you, and keep you going until you can run by yourself again. They know that you are stronger than you think and will make you use that strength. They love their sport and they love their team dearly.

5. Race and never doubt yourself.
RANDY. Each race, my coach would tell us that Randy, our biggest fan, was watching and cheering us on. The man was our motivation. The entire season passed before Coach told us that Randy was really an acronym for the most important lesson that he would ever teach us. You are the determining factor whether you will finish the race or not, whether you will even step onto the line in the first place. To doubt yourself at all can be detrimental to the entire race, to the entire season. "Running," Coach always said, "Is 10% physical and 90% mental; to doubt your ability to succeed can ruin your possible success." You have to believe in yourself and your potential to be strong and persevere through the pain. Believe in your training and in the hard work you have put into this sport. Race and never, never doubt yourself.