Something I wonder about occasionally is whether if I'd run cross country for my high school I would have become better earlier or would have burned out and lost interest in running.
I did run three cross country races in high school, all of them intra-mural (inter-house competition, as in the Harry Potter books). Most of us (400 of the 600 or so at a boys only public school) had to run one of the two races (one for younger boys, one for older boys) each year. We were also supposed to run the course three times beforehand for practice. I don't know how or why I avoided the race the first two years (high school is 5 years in South Africa), but in the next three I finished 64th, 32nd, and then 6th. Sport was compulsory and those who didn't manage to make one of the teams for any other sport had to run cross country. So it was seen as a sport that was mostly for losers. Even without that negative connotation, I preferred playing rugby. I think there were 16 rugby teams (6 "open", 4 under 15, 4 under 13, and 2 under 12), all of which played against other schools. I generally played for the weakest teams -- 5th or 6th team once I was in the "open" age group.
I did run two track meets for the school in my final month in high school. I know I ran the 3,000m in at least one of the two and also at least one relay -- must have been medley or distance relays, but I don't recall the distances and didn't ever know what my times were. I wasn't asked to train with the track team. The only running I did was a route from home, mostly on single-track trails, that took 15-20 minutes, that I used to run on afternoons when I didn't play another sport.
XC in HS was a blast. As a teammate once said, "We're not good, but we are funny." Some truth to this. With a lifetime 5-27 dual and occasional tri-meet record, we were treated with kid gloves by our competition.
The pure enjoyment of letting fly when the little starter pistol cracked. Everyone sailing out ass over tin cup. Hanging up front forever how long that lasted. Some more than others. Slogging along until the last 400 yard nightmare on the golf course. The only time left to save face.
We would grab a tounge depressor with a number on it and flop to the ground. Some trying to suck in O2, some dry heaved, and my personal issue was having gobs of thick saliva in my throat I had to cough up.
The bus ride home (our home course was 8-9 miles from the HS) was a series of hilarious recaps. Rarely true, with a bit of extra effort to highlight your race.
We actually won our first race ever. Coach did not know we won until I saw the results pulling into our school. Had to let everyone know low score won, which was 27-28 in our favor. I was 14 and was 3rd overall. I was our number one guy that day. Houston we have a problem.
Something I wonder about occasionally is whether if I'd run cross country for my high school I would have become better earlier or would have burned out and lost interest in running.
I did run three cross country races in high school, all of them intra-mural (inter-house competition, as in the Harry Potter books). Most of us (400 of the 600 or so at a boys only public school) had to run one of the two races (one for younger boys, one for older boys) each year. We were also supposed to run the course three times beforehand for practice. I don't know how or why I avoided the race the first two years (high school is 5 years in South Africa), but in the next three I finished 64th, 32nd, and then 6th. Sport was compulsory and those who didn't manage to make one of the teams for any other sport had to run cross country. So it was seen as a sport that was mostly for losers. Even without that negative connotation, I preferred playing rugby. I think there were 16 rugby teams (6 "open", 4 under 15, 4 under 13, and 2 under 12), all of which played against other schools. I generally played for the weakest teams -- 5th or 6th team once I was in the "open" age group.
I did run two track meets for the school in my final month in high school. I know I ran the 3,000m in at least one of the two and also at least one relay -- must have been medley or distance relays, but I don't recall the distances and didn't ever know what my times were. I wasn't asked to train with the track team. The only running I did was a route from home, mostly on single-track trails, that took 15-20 minutes, that I used to run on afternoons when I didn't play another sport.
XC in HS was a blast. As a teammate once said, "We're not good, but we are funny." Some truth to this. With a lifetime 5-27 dual and occasional tri-meet record, we were treated with kid gloves by our competition.
The pure enjoyment of letting fly when the little starter pistol cracked. Everyone sailing out ass over tin cup. Hanging up front forever how long that lasted. Some more than others. Slogging along until the last 400 yard nightmare on the golf course. The only time left to save face.
We would grab a tounge depressor with a number on it and flop to the ground. Some trying to suck in O2, some dry heaved, and my personal issue was having gobs of thick saliva in my throat I had to cough up.
The bus ride home (our home course was 8-9 miles from the HS) was a series of hilarious recaps. Rarely true, with a bit of extra effort to highlight your race.
We actually won our first race ever. Coach did not know we won until I saw the results pulling into our school. Had to let everyone know low score won, which was 27-28 in our favor. I was 14 and was 3rd overall. I was our number one guy that day. Houston we have a problem.