More Than Just Cross Country

When I hear the words cross-country

I hear tired laughter

The kind when you know you didn’t get enough sleep.

Bus rides early in the morning, sliding under the seats,

Laughing until our stomachs cramp up.

I hear the gunshot starting the race, and my heart is pounding louder than it is.

I hear the same type of songs that play at the meets.

Every time our coach says, “One small town loop”

We all seem to groan, yet so many memories are held on that run.

We mistook a snake for a stick, crashing into one another in screams,

We had to chase a chicken from getting onto the highway,

Throwing apples into the streets, almost hitting a car,

Random teenagers in a car telling us to run faster,

Knowing they couldn't run as much as we can.

We seem to pass by the same house

Always getting renovations.

I wonder if the people there

Ever get sick of seeing groups of people running for fun.

“They must truly be out of their minds.”

Yet I’m surprised their chickens haven't gotten run over.

Our shoes are stained with mud from our home course,

We were all secretly wishing for the race to get canceled.

We were so unprepared, too busy trying to put temporary tattoos in our hair,

We drank so much lemonade that day, I swear I can still taste it.

I can’t recall a meet where we had time to sit down before our race.

I can still smell the bus heater burning itself,

I swear I almost burned myself because of it.

We all manage to jump over the bus seats without the bus driver yelling at us,

We manage to sing Happy Birthday to Chick-fil-A, and almost got the police called on us,

We knew they were joking, yet it was still a bit scary. 

The time we played laser tag, I had rolled on the grass one too many times,

Trying to look like some super-secret spy.

The time we did a scavenger hunt and won, running 5 miles in 30 minutes,

Getting absolutely nothing for a prize because our sport doesn’t get funded.

All the times we gushed over chubby babies while trying to run.

Before every race, we all circled up to pray, our feet shaping a heart.

We all pray for the same things, and we end up laughing hysterically in the middle of praying.

I’ll never forget when my sister and I got 6 and 7 for our bib numbers.

Stupid, I know, but honestly, really awesome. 
We lived by the four words of You Only Live Once, We ran until our legs buckled.

I’ll always remember the time I ate half a bag of ice because I finally found out how to throw it in the air and catch the ice with my mouth.

I’ll always remember our chant, knowing we made it up at 6:00 in the morning.

I’ll always remember the one race I missed, texting our group chat, telling everyone how much I miss them.

We don’t run because we hate ourselves,

We run because we know we are strong,

We run because it feels amazing.

We run for each other, for ourselves, for everyone.

We run because we are insane, but insanely good at it.

I’ll always remember every small thing in this sport because I cherish it so deeply.

Once you join cross country, you can never go back, and I’ll never regret it. 

I know that every time I’ll think about this year, I’ll cry,

Everything I’ve done this year, 

The t-shirts and ribbons I won, 

The friends I’d made,

The inside jokes we created,

The socks we’ve ruined, 

Everything.

So, thank you guys so much for making this sport so special.
I know none of you will see this, 

But I’m so grateful for everything.

Thank you for pushing me to run faster on the warm-up laps because of ‘seniority’.

Thank you for ‘holding your horses’ because you were being too fast

Thank you for giving me all of the safety pins for our bib numbers,

Thank you for making fun of Ryan every time we saw a lost sock,

Thank you for doing ‘homie time’ with me because I thought it was funny.

And most importantly,

Thank you for being weird with me and not being annoyed every time I said, “This is our last one, make it our best one!”, because you guys made this last middle school season the best one for me.