The struggle is REAL.

Whether it's cross country or track and field, sometimes both, there are certain experiences that are unique to the journey of these college athletes. Being an athlete in college is hard. Being an athlete for a running sport in college is pure struggle-bus. It’s brutal and cruel and wonderful all at the same time. Day in and day out its five am practices and weights in the afternoon. Five miles is nothing to you but to your non-athlete friends? They live thinking you’re insane. They always say they would never do what you do, but you can’t imagine doing anything else. It is these tough experiences that make the struggle all worth it in the end.

1. Accidentally putting on your roommate’s clothes for practice because it was five AM and you dressed in the dark.
2. Accidentally putting on your clothes backwards or inside out (and not realizing it until you got half way through practice). Because again it was five AM and dark.
3. People looking at you crazy for going to bed at 9:30. Because you have practice at five the next morning.
4. Wanting to plow over everyone in the breakfast line to get to food because you just came from practice and you are starving.
5. That feeling you get when you know you have to climb the stairs to get to your room and you just came from weight training.
6. Getting that face from all your non-athlete friends when you say “It’s just five miles”.
7. Writing that term paper on the bus on the way to your conference meet, because those two things always seem to happen at the same time.
8. Knowing the importance of the penny in your running shoe. That glorious distraction that keeps you going at mile seven of that ten mile practice.
9. Never being caught up on all your homework because well… practice and meets and races.
10. Never feeling like you got enough sleep. But you power through because you’re an athlete!
11. That wonderful satisfying feeling when you break that PR you have held for two years.
12. When your hope for an easy practice dies because your coach just said the words “circuit training day”.
13. That moment when you are running down the street and that car pretends to not see you and almost runs you over.
14. Chafing. Need I say more???
15. Waiting FOREVER for your GPS watch to sync up.
16. Foam rolling the day after weight practice. Needless to say it SUCKS. You didn’t know that something could hurt so bad and feel so good at the same time.

Needless to say being a runner in college is a daily ride on the struggle bus, but in the end the results you achieve and the goals you reach are worth every early morning practice. All the struggles and experiences all add up to be a heck of a good time when you look back at it. As a runner in college you could never wish for a different experience because you know that running is in your blood and its just what you do.