People ask me all the time, "How do you run so much? And why?!" But I wasn't always the runner I am today.

Growing up, I never believed I would be a runner. I never believed I was capable of it and did everything in my power to avoid running longer distances. I don't think I actually ran more than a mile until my sophomore year of high school. I was afraid of long distances and afraid of pushing myself in ways that I never had before. I played softball and was interested in becoming more fit to better myself for my sport. And my sister ran too, so I thought it would be fun for us to do it together. My chemistry teacher was the girls' head coach and encouraged me to come to practices to see how I liked it.

And truth be told, I hated it at first. I was always the last person to finish each run and workout, and it was physically harder than anything I had ever tried before. I felt horrible about myself for lacking the talent that my teammates had. More often than not, I wanted to quit.

But I never did.

The thing most people who don't run cross country don't understand is that it's a team sport. While each runner races as an individual, they have a group of other individuals to run with. Yes, I may have been the worst girl on the team, but the support system I had from my teammates and coaches pushed me to keep coming back. They made me want to improve! So I went to every practice and pushed myself at every race. I ended up improving my 5k time by almost 6 whole minutes from the beginning of the season until the end of the season. I felt truly accomplished—my goal was to improve, and I did.

My love for running continued to grow, as I now run in college (something else I never believed would happen) on a club team. I met my best friends through this team and wish I could have joined sooner. Running with a group of friends makes the process so much more enjoyable, and I genuinely look forward to running with mine at practice every day.

But what if I can't make it to practice? Do I enjoy running alone?

The answer is yes! While I definitely prefer running with others, I have also come to love doing it in solitude. I see it as calming and the best way to relieve stress. One of my friends told me she pictures her sweat as "the stress of her day leaving her body," and that really resonated with me. I always make sure I run after a long, stressful day.

Of course, there are days where I'm not excited to run. But if I go a day without running, I feel even worse. I used to be afraid of running, but now I'm afraid of missing a run, even if it's for one day! I would not want to go through life without being able to run. There's a quote from the show "Bojack Horseman" about running that really sums it up perfectly. The runner says, "Every day it gets a little easier. But you gotta do it every day. That's the hard part. But it does get easier."

So if you want to start running, keep that in mind. Also, remember that it's not an instant process. It took me FOUR YEARS to become a good runner (and there are still people way better than I am) and four years to love running the way that I do. Push yourself and never give up, because every day it gets a little easier.