Through the hill workouts, tempo runs, mile repeats, and speed workouts, it is safe to say that cross country runners are some of the toughest athletes around. However, it is important to note that there is more to cross country running than meets the eye.

Anyone who has undergone the blood, sweat, and tears that is cross country can relate to these 58 irrefutable claims:

1. Constantly questioning why you chose to willingly put yourself through the pain and torture that is cross country

2. Getting home from a tough workout and devouring your entire fridge

3. Secretly attempting to twist your ankle on a nearby acorn in order to get out of a race

4. Casually feeling like a boss when you tell your non-running friends that you went on a 5-mile run

5. That secret urge to beat your running buddy who you’ve been neck-and-neck with all season

6. And that feeling of respect that arises even when that person does, indeed, beat you

7. But promising yourself that you WILL beat him/her next race

8. Planning out how you and your cross country friends are going to be fit milfs/dilfs who will run marathons til you’re old and pruned

9. When non-runners automatically assume you’re fast, even if you’re not

10. That inevitable need to poop that arises during mile 1 of a meet

11. Achieving a PR and thinking, even if only for a second, that you could have been in the Olympics if you really wanted to

12. When non-runners ask you what “PR” means and you just shake your head and laugh

13. That moment when a non-runner asks you what “tempo runs” are and you officially feel like a badass athlete

14. Trying to look cute in the middle of a workout when someone attractive runs by

15. Bragging to your non-running friends about how lit last nights’ pasta party was

16. Overusing the phrase “We’re XC and we know it”

17. Having life epiphanies during long runs

18. Secretly doing the “For Narnia!” voice inside your head every time the gun goes off and the stampede emerges

19. Getting caught in the middle of the stampede and being pissed about it

20. When you see a picture of yourself running on social media and wonder when sloths became runners

21. You have peed yourself at least once during a race and are no longer ashamed

22. You also cried a little during at least one meet but don’t talk about it

23. Finding out it’s a speed workout day and silently cursing yourself and everyone and everything

24. Finishing a speed workout and lying on the ground gasping for air wondering how life can go on when you are dying

25. Taking forever to walk up the stairs the day after a speed workout and having to tell people to go around you

26. Doing hill workouts and experiencing your living hell

27. And just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse, you quickly discover that Satan has a brother, first name “MILE” last name “REPEATS”

28. When you twitch at the mere sight of any sort of hill on a course

29. But you keep powering through because you want to be fit

30. Getting the “pity clap” during a meet and hating the world

31. When a runner you don’t know encourages you during a race and they officially become your new best friend

32. The amount of joy you feel when Coach says it’s a distance day

33. When you accidentally eat a full meal too close to practice and pay the price during your workout

34. When ice baths become just as relaxing as warm ones

35. When your jeans won’t fit over your calf muscles and you feel like the Hulk

36. When you secretly pride yourself in that fact that your sport is other sports’ punishment

37. Missing one speed workout and feeling like you’re now the slowest one in your group

38. That one distance run where you and your teammates find a secret place and end up sitting and talking about life for an hour

39. It is also at this moment when you and those friends become best friends

40. Being on JV and having equal feelings of both admiration and intimidation toward Varsity

41. Being on Varsity and getting mad at the slackers on JV who never do the full workout

42. Becoming way too comfortable talking about your poop life with your cross country friends

43. When you accidentally talk about your poop life to a non-runner and things get uncomfortable

44. When you pass someone during a race and your ego goes up a few notches

45. When someone passes you and they have officially become your new enemy

46. When you’re on the line and there’s that one person with the weird pre-race rituals

47. When you sprint during the first 100 meters and firmly believe you’re going to win this race

48. But then reality quickly catches up with you

49. When your seasonal watch tan line is your best accessory

50. Lest we forget about those sexy sock lines

51. When practice is never canceled. Ever.

52. When you go off to college and still brag to people about how you did cross country in high school

53. Doing a 5k for the first time since high school and realizing YOU STILL GOT IT

54. When you realize the long talks you had during distance runs are some of the deepest you’ve ever had

55. And realize that the friendships you’ve formed as a result are even deeper

56. When the last day of practice comes and you realize how much you actually love this sport and everything it has given you

57. And the saying “Once a runner, always a runner” takes on a much more personal meaning

58. Which leads you to conclude deep down in your heart that cross country is much more than just a sport, it's a lifestyle