Stepping off of the yellow bus into the November air was like getting slapped in the face. I carried my sports bag in one hand and my water bottle in the other. We followed our cross-country coach over to what is called the staging area. Basically you have to hold at least one of your bibs in order to get into the MSHSAA Cross-Country State Championships. My coach handed me a sheet of plastic like paper with the number 998 printed across it. I walked through the gate and waited for my teammates to follow. I heard a girl screeching my name and spun around in confusion. I finally recognized the source of the noise, It was a sweet girl named Ashley who used to run cross-country too. I tried to talk to her, but was interrupted by my teammates
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There are the elite runners who get interviewed as they cross the finish line. Their faces glistening with sweat and a medal hugging their neck. Then you have the people who dress up as a Tyrannosaurus Rex and chase people around tent city. You also have fans that come from bigger schools. Girls walk around wearing nothing more than running shorts, a sports bra, and face paint. Boys paint their whole body in their school colors. Some make masks of their runners faces to wear. A few even take old torn uniforms and make them into makeshift flags. The parents are the best though. All bundled up in school spirit. Wearing hoodies with the school 's logo printed across it. Waving signs that they had spent hours working on the night before. They don’t care if you win or lose; they only care that you made it all the way to state. My dad likes to pretend he is a coach. He always has his running watch to time me and likes to sprint across the course to make sure he can be there to yell at me at the two …show more content…
We did a series of stretches out of habit more than anything. We then started doing ridiculous looking sprint outs to the same set of flags. I began to regret my decision to wear long leggings; my legs were burning. It was too late to change though so I knew it was a mistake I would just have to live with. The girls and I huddled together for our pep talk. A senior on our team, Topanga, wrote a short speech and read it to us. The genuine emotion in her voice melted my heart. She wasn’t even going to run that day, but had came as an alternate. She thanked the team for giving her the opportunity to run and go to state. I hadn’t even realized I was crying until one of the salty tears slipped into my mouth and glazed my tongue. She wasn’t running because I
There are the elite runners who get interviewed as they cross the finish line. Their faces glistening with sweat and a medal hugging their neck. Then you have the people who dress up as a Tyrannosaurus Rex and chase people around tent city. You also have fans that come from bigger schools. Girls walk around wearing nothing more than running shorts, a sports bra, and face paint. Boys paint their whole body in their school colors. Some make masks of their runners faces to wear. A few even take old torn uniforms and make them into makeshift flags. The parents are the best though. All bundled up in school spirit. Wearing hoodies with the school 's logo printed across it. Waving signs that they had spent hours working on the night before. They don’t care if you win or lose; they only care that you made it all the way to state. My dad likes to pretend he is a coach. He always has his running watch to time me and likes to sprint across the course to make sure he can be there to yell at me at the two …show more content…
We did a series of stretches out of habit more than anything. We then started doing ridiculous looking sprint outs to the same set of flags. I began to regret my decision to wear long leggings; my legs were burning. It was too late to change though so I knew it was a mistake I would just have to live with. The girls and I huddled together for our pep talk. A senior on our team, Topanga, wrote a short speech and read it to us. The genuine emotion in her voice melted my heart. She wasn’t even going to run that day, but had came as an alternate. She thanked the team for giving her the opportunity to run and go to state. I hadn’t even realized I was crying until one of the salty tears slipped into my mouth and glazed my tongue. She wasn’t running because I