The summer before I started the 8th grade, I started running Cross Country with Spring Valley High School. How I got started running is really a crazy story, but I won’t go into those details here. Maybe another day. Running quickly turned into something that I loved and something that I was good at. It came naturally to me and I could easily see the progress that I was making. By my sophomore year I was the top runner on the varsity team in Cross Country and in the distance events for track. As a freshman I ran a mile in 4:48 and then as a sophmore I ran a 5k in 16:47. My junior year I had some knee problems and got more involved with church, and then I didn’t run at all as a Senior.

I learned a lot while running Cross Country. The most important thing that I learned is how to work hard to achieve a goal. I set goals to run long distances (the most I ever ran was 12 miles), to run faster, to run more often, and to be faster than anyone else on our team. I won a few races and finished top 20 in the state, and really achieved most of my goals that I set. What I loved about Cross Country is this: if you didn’t train, you didn’t do well. You literally only got out what you put in. You couldn’t just get by. You had to constantly and consistently run, run, run, run. If you didn’t train hard and push yourself to the point where you can’t push anymore, you wouldn’t improve. I loved to see the results from working hard. It’s great to be working hard and see immediate results. I honestly believe that I am who I am today because of the 4 years that I spent running Cross Country. I learned to set goals. I’ve learned to find ways to reach my goals. Unfortunately, it’s sometimes hard to see immediate results on those goals. For example, I’m saving for retirement, but I think I’m only like 1% to my goal after 2 years. But we will get there, it just takes a little more time.

On another note, I’m still trying to run, but it’s incredibly depressing. I still have knee trouble as well as problems with both of my feet going numb, but I love to run. I’m trying to take it as easy as possible so that I can get some exercise. I just clocked myself and realized that I am averaging about 9-10 minutes a mile for a 3 mile run. I can do this for 30 minutes (3 miles) and I am nowhere close to out of breath, but my feet literally give up on me. It’s extremely frustrating, but I hope to keep making progress and within the next couple of months be able to run 4 or 5 miles. I hate running so slow, but you’ve got to start somewhere, and if I don’t start now, I’ll just keep getting fatter!!

So, I encourage you to set goals. Work hard to reach them, and don’t give up in the process. There is no better feeling than setting a goal that you feel is impossible to reach and then a year or 2 later reaching that goal!