I started running cross country for my school around the 8th grade because one of my best friends got me into it. At the time, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. We were both dancers as well so I did not think I would be able to handle both at the same time. Little did I know, running would be a huge part of my life from then until I graduated from high school. Running became one of my favorite things to do. Saturdays consisted of waking up at the crack of dawn so that my parents could drive me to wherever my next meet was. I gained more confidence because I loved what I was doing and I realized I was pretty good at it. I attribute a lot of my passion for running in high school to my coaches because they worked us so hard. My teammates and I had a love/ hate relationship with them for the amount of miles they made us run, the number of hills we ran up and down over and over again, and practices so brutal we wanted to throw up. So for all you runners out there, I feel your pain!

Here are just a few things that go through the mind of a runner:

Saturday morning races:

Your entire body before your warm up mile:

How badly you (plus everyone and their mothers) have to pee right before the race, so the waiting line looks like this:

But then you give up and end up here:

Ok, here we go, time to make coach proud and get first place!

By the end of mile one, that motivation has worn off and you feel like you're going this fast:

But then you see coach on the side of the trail keeping track of your speed and you automatically get so much energy:

Alright, I think I see the finish line, I got this! I can do this! No one can hold me back now!

The finish line is staring at you in the face and you hear people cheering your school's mascot, go wildcats, finish strong!

Woo, you did it! You ran a 5k! You might not have gotten a PR, but you don't even care at this point.

What you really want to be doing is:

YAY I can't wait to wake up next Saturday and repeat this whole thing again!