Many people underestimate the true benefits of running cross country. However, only after one has participated in cross country could they truly understand the magnitude of its impact. Growing up in a family of runners, including my mom, dad, and grandpa, I have always been fond of running.
As a young girl, I watched my mom run various marathons and half-marathons. I remember her running up to 20 miles a night, and because I absolutely admired my mom and wanted to be just like her, I was encouraged to participate in youth triathlons and other races.
As I started junior high, I was ecstatic to find that there was a cross country team I could join. I could go on for days explaining the positive impacts cross country has had on my life over the years. I could state the obvious, such as making life-long friendships or learning skills of discipline and hard work. In spite of that, cross country has made one positive impact on my life that trumps all the others. Cross country has virtually saved me from myself.
As a teenager suffering from depression, I understand the stigma toward mental illness. I know the stereotypes associated with depression — that it isn't real or it is just people seeking attention or that it is lazy people looking for an excuse and so on — which makes it that much harder to deal with. Due to the lack of compassion toward these types of illnesses, I have had to learn how to cope with it on my own. Along with the frequent feelings of hopelessness and forlornness, depression is notorious for causing people to lose interest in activities they once loved and enjoyed.
Over my high school years, due to depression, my interest in all of my other activities often declined; however, my love and interest in cross country never faded. Therefore, my coping mechanism became running. On days where depression bound me to my bed, cross country was always the solvent to pull me away. Cross country saved me when I feared I could no longer be saved from depression.
Even on the darkest of days, cross country was my light. Running is not simply a passion of mine. It has always been my safe haven, a place of refuge, an escape from all things bad in life. As long as I was rhythmically placing one foot in front of the other, all of my other problems disappeared.
I am forever grateful for the friends I have made through cross country, the important life lessons I have learned, and the incredible mentors I have had the pleasure of knowing, but cross country has given me much more. Without the hours I have spent running, the countless weeknights I have spent at practice with my teammates, and the handful of Saturday mornings I have spent racing, depression would have shaped my life. I would not be the person I am today if I had never discovered my passion for cross country.