personal history: AHS cross country

I didn't do much of anything my freshman year in high school, besides band. My sophomore year my friend Patrick convinced me to join the cross country team. I remember going to some practice or try out event, and I couldn't even run the whole way. But I ran some and walked some and covered the whole distance. Practices started in the summer before the school year started, and before long I was able to run a full 5k very slowly. Our coach didn't seem to mind having a couple slow runners around, and I didn't mind being behind everyone else.
I was in the cross country team only two years, and I didn't do a good job staying in shape between seasons. I did become able to run that distance, and even improved my time from around 30 minutes to under 25 minutes. By the end I was actually faster than one other boy on the team (he had a bad knee and walked quite a bit) and could compete with some of the girls. I was never last in competitions, but was certainly never close to first. I did come in last at the county meet, because our team was small enough that I got to run in the varsity level race.
Some people can't stand running, but for me this was very enjoyable. Sometimes I would just have music running through my head as I ran, or would just think about breathing, or my mind might just wander. But the important thing was that I was able to have a constant physical exertion for a while while my mind was able to rest. I was probably happier during times when I did cross country because I was healthier, even eating better sometimes to be ready for running.
Practices could involve just running for an hour, or for 10k. Other times we did drills of some sort, running up and down stairs and hills, mixing sprints with distance running, or other things. On Fridays our coach would have us do something different, do a workout that wasn't running. I remember once towards the end of the season we played a game of soccer, and the assistant coach said something about me trying out for the soccer team, which I never did. We also did some kind of tae bo thing a bunch on those Fridays.
I got to be late for band practices when I did cross country, but I don't think I felt the pressure of time too much. I did choose not to do it my senior year because I wanted to be better able to concentrate on school. I ran occasionally at times since then, but have never been able to do that consistently for a longer period of time.