I've been a runner all my life. As a kid in elementary school, I'd find myself thinking about how cool it would be to have a place in life just running.
Being shy and afraid to ask questions, I learned randomly when I was in 8th grade that there is such a thing in High School sports; Cross Country.
I was never 'fast' at the mile, in 8th grade I ran a 7:04.
I joined Cross-Country freshman year and was terrified by the coach and from all the pain and discomfort running gave me.
After collapsing my arches, tearing my shin muscles from the bones, tearing ligaments in my knees, and pushing my hips out of allignment at the end of my freshman year, I realized I loved running.
I took the summer off to heal and jumped back in sophmore year. I excelled. Was the top of Frosh-Soph the whole year I was still afraid of my coach, but hung out a lot with some other running-mates. By the end of track, our egos were HUGE and we decided to take over the team.
Junior year was the greatest year of my life. Running got so easy. I ditched hard workouts and still improved my race times. My friends and I always stuck together and everyone on the team knew who were were and knew were meant trouble(for everyone). It was also my peak year for performance.
Stats:
400: 0:58
800meter: 2:09
Mile: 4:45
2Mile: 9:55
Each day I woke up, every action was to prepare to run. Drinking 6 waterbottles a day, eating 2 fruits, 2 sandwiches, and 3 carbs/sugars each day. A lot of the time I'd run before school to get more workouts in.
Senior year I kinda got burned out of running.The pain, the repitition, and my busy schedule were too much and after Cross-Country ended, I didn't sign up for track. I'd still run for fun with friends.
I had decided that I would run for recreation. Since then I've ran in a few half marathons and run 2-3 times a week, usually 5-8 miles per session.
Running has crazy infulences on your brain, it can help you handle stress better, and feel happy. Plus theres that 'runners high' you get when you run for long periods of time, you kinda zone out.
Mainly running makes you feel good. Afterwards you feel like you have MORE energy than you had before you ran. Running with friends is also great as you can push each other to run faster and you can laugh and talk. Its also good for your body(everyone knows that) But it is also VERY BAD FOR YOUR BODY WITHOUT THE CORRECT SHOES AND RUNNING FORM AND POSTURE.(as I learned
ing up my legs)
I'm an expert when It comes to everything about running. I suggest each of you to put in one season while in High School on your cross-country teams. If you have questions just ask I can answer all of them. I also know a LOT about running shoes as I worked in a running shoe shop for 2 years :P