“No Easy Way”: My Morning With the Cross Country Team

*Note: Since the school Wi-Fi blocks Youtube videos, I would recommend reading this story off their network.

4:33 AM

I briefly wake up from my sleep and check my clock. Looks like I have another hour and a half to sleep, score!

4:38 AM

My alarm goes off. I do not have another hour and a half to sleep. Today is cross country day. I am tired. How the runners get up this early every day, I do not know.

5:43 AM

I arrive at school with the rest of the cross country team. The runners ask why I am there, and I tell them I am there to get a first-hand experience of their practices. Brittany Whitesides tells me “ooo, you’re going to die.” Oh boy.

5:50 AM

We begin the warm-up, led by junior Evie Jiminez and senior Troy Gilchrist. Sophomore Isaac Stowell tells me the warm-up normally consists of two laps around the soccer field and a few dynamic stretches. Pshhh. Easy.

5:57 AM

The team gets some motivation from Coach Dosmann. He congratulates the team on their performance at a tough Desert Solstice meet, where junior Josh Lathrop finished in first for the Knights. Today will be the team’s last hard workout of the week, as they will begin tapering off in preparation for Saturday’s meet at Tumbleweed Park. A 50-minute run is today’s plan.

6:00 AM

We head out, and make a right onto Erie Street. Everyone on the team has passed me within 30 seconds.

6:09 AM

As you can see, 9 minutes into the workout I cannot even see anyone in front of me. These kids are fast!

6:12 AM

After making a left onto Galveston, I come up to Dobson where I get to rest for a few seconds. Skeeter is waiting there, offering water to all the runners. I am offered both water and a ride on his bike.

6:14 AM

6:18 AM

The only runner I can see is Adam Parkinson, who is currently recovering from a leg injury. He wants to keep running, but his coaches make him turn around. I am in awe of the grit of the runners.

6:23 AM 

I arrive at the “destination,” a park with a 3/4 mile track. After running about a mile and a half to the park, the runners run 2 or 3 laps around the park before heading back. I join up with a group of 6 guys who are just starting their second lap. I stick with them for about 3 seconds before being left behind. By the time I have finished my one lap, Evie Jiminez has finished two laps and is about to do another half lap.

6:43 AM

As you can see in the above video, I am really feeling the pain with about a mile left. I am having to stop and walk every few minutes. That is something which truly impressed me about the team; almost nobody ever took a walking break. It would be so easy to do, just walk for 30 seconds, but the guys and the girls on the team keep on pushing themselves.

6:46 AM

6:50 AM

As I come down the homestretch, I meet back up with a handful of guys again. Among them is junior Ivan Lopez, who is kind enough to run with me the last quarter mile. He congratulates me on making it through my first (and probably last) cross country workout.

6:54 AM

I enter the gates of school, which feel like the gates of heaven as they signal the end of the workout. But wait– the workout is not over yet. The runners sprint across the width of the soccer field six times. Remember, they have just run 5 or 6 miles. I decide that this would be a good time to take action shots of the team, since I had been lagging so far behind before.

7:00 AM

The team gathers around Coach Dosmann for a few final words before heading into the locker room. Four runners ran further than they ever have today, including sophomore Zeryn Lewis

“Positive attitudes are contagious, they spread,” said Coach Dosmann. During my time with the team, attitude is the trait which stood out to me above all others. Throughout the entire practice, I did not hear a single complaint from a runner about the workout. In the final stretch, after pushing themselves for 45 minutes, I still saw smiles from everyone on the team.

“I think it’s fun. Not many people do, but I think it’s fun,” was Elias Hernandez’s response when I asked him why he runs cross country. I have nothing but respect for these crazy cross country runners. Check the Knights out in action this Saturday morning at 8 AM in the Ojo Rojo meet at Tumbleweed Park.