Living Hell

I don't have a distinct faith that I believe in. The only religion I somewhat understand is Buddhism because it is the dominating religion my Taiwanese family practices. Back in America, religion isn't a part of my life. However just like anyone, I have those days where I think "gee, this is what hell must feel like".

Typically six days a week I endure living hell. Fall seems like the worst season to have cross country. The heat and dust make running dirt trails seem horrible. Speed workouts on the track aren't any better. Cross country puts a whole new name on "track workout". Twenty 400s in three minute intervals, leaving less than a minute and a half of rest between each of them is quite simply, TERRIBLE. I've ran three seasons of track, and yet when the coach announces a track workout during cross country season I'm ready to go pick out what type of marble I want my tombstone to be made out of. The other terrible type of speed workout are timed miles on a hilly terrain such as on Thompson in Browns Valley. After about the third mile repeat, each mile seems to feel like the length of California and it is always when you start to slow down out of exhaustion, that our coach comes out of nowhere on his bike and yells at you to pick up the pace.




The only thing worse than exhausting speed workouts are the races. It truly sucks when you have to hike a mile uphill just to get to the starting line and you're already tired before actually racing. What makes cross country an extremely hard sport is that it's not only physical strength but also mental. Without being mentally motivated to run, the task becomes impossible. Getting on the start line with over a hundred girls at big invitations such as the Stanford Invitational (picture below), is beyond intimidating. At races like this, it becomes apparent that cross country can actually be classified as a contact sport. The start is full of tripping and elbowing, often causing false starts when whole groups of runners fall down within the first 100 meters.



So...why do people actually participate in this painful sport? Answer: WE'RE CRAZY.
Through the pain and sweat, somehow it feels so rewarding that we keep doing it over and over again. Now as the girls captain of cross country, I still look back on my years and wonder why I run cross country if it's living hell, but I have no better answer than there's something wrong with me.