Whoa... Time flies! One moment I'm trying to run once around a track and thinking I know what pain is and the next I'm running 3.1 miles with high-schoolers for a special meet and getting seventh place (and managing to semi-permanently injure my hips and make my calves very sore the rest of the year...). Cross Country was/is a big part of my life this summer/fall and I want to make sure that people know what Cross Country is like. The first couple of practices were hard for me. I had run 1 mile most in my whole life and now I was supposed to run almost two miles in a race with a bunch of other middle school girls (and sometimes boys too!). I did a trial 3K (1.86 miles) and I got a ~16:30. I was very mad at myself since I'm very competitive and goal oriented and my goal was to get in the 15 minute zone. I kept running, but my knee started hurting so I took a couple days away from practice. I wasn't originally going to go to the first meet, but I last minute decided that I could. I did well and by the end my knees didn't hurt but it was hard to breathe and my throat hurt because I hadn't drunk enough water and it was ~80ºF and sunny. I got a 15:14 3K. Next meet I was determined to get fourth place (I got a fourth place ribbon, but there were mistakes so I actually got like 6th or 7th place) so I stayed with the top runners from each school. I was in 6th for the beginning of the race, then I entered the woods and passed two girls. I had my eyes on my target. As long as no one else beat me by the end I would get fourth place. I struggled to keep up and I knew I was going a little faster than usual but I ignored my pain and focused only on the 2 girls in front of me (the first place girl was so far ahead that I couldn't see her!!!). As I exited the woods I heard cheering. It was so loud that all I could hear was frequency and no words could be distinguished from the noise. Then I heard a highschool boy from my team yell encouragement to me. He told me that I was doing great and should try to beat the two girls. I passed one of them with a little less than a kilometer left to go. I was grunting and by the time I made it to the track (which meant only ~500 meters left) I was literally mumbling "help me, help. please." over and over again. Nobody heard my words and my team was screaming, "COME ON VERLA!!!!" I kept going, but I just wanted to stop running and be able to breathe deeply again. 50 meters before the finish line the 4th place girl passed me leaving me in 4th place. I had achieved my goal. I was shocked to learn that I had gotten a 13:33!!! From their my journey went downhill and uphill at the same time... At some meets I got late 13:40's and others I got 13:50's and one meet (at the course with a huge hill...) I got ~14:10. Then I went back to the place where I had gotten a 13:33 and was determined to get a PR again. I was hurting from shin splints and injured calves and hips from running on the highschool team because they were short one player. I got a 13:13 and got 10th place. I should mention that while I was getting better, another girl on my team was also improving and giving me competition. At one meet she beat me by a long shot, and others we would be a couple seconds away from eachother. It came to the final meet. She had won 5 meets for our team and I had won 4. If she won this last meet, she won by a lot. If I won this last meet and beat her PR, I would win just barely. I was so anxious and nervous when this final meet came that I woke up shivering and shaking. My stomach wouldn't digest any food so I hardly had any. I ended up beating her (just barely) and her PR and getting a time of 13:02!! I was so happy, but very mad at the same time because my goal had been to make it in the 12's and I had just finished my last middle school 3K race just seconds slower than I needed to get into the 12's. After my I remember jumping up and down and yelling, "UGHHHHHH!!! I WAS SOOOO CLOSE!!!" One of the highschooler's looked at me with a concerned look and asked me if I was ok. I explained that I was fine, I was just mad that I didn't make it in the 12's...
Over this summer and fall I made so many friends. I was shocked at how good sportsmanship (or sportswomanship ;) ) everyone had. At one meet I was entering a woods where at least one person got severely injured every race and I twisted my ankle. It was nothing bad and I kept running, but I made a sound of pain, and the girl in front of me asked (during a State Championship!!), "Are you ok?" and I replied, "Yeah. I think so." I had many conversations during my practices and a few during my races. During one race I talked to a girl because she had lived next door to a good friend of mine and we had a little reunion. I can't believe that 3 years ago we were making slime and this year we were running together. At every meet after that I would say hi to her before the race and cheer her on after I had finished. I also became friends with some of the girls that beat me. There was one girl from Bethesda who was so friendly and kind. After all my races I would walk around and say, "great job!" to anyone wearing a XC uniform and sometimes I'd go up to the people who had beat me and I'd say something like, "You did so good today! I can't believe how fast you ran!" And then there are the friends that I made from my own team. Some I already knew, and some I had never met. Each one of these girls (and boys) has a very special place in my heart. I really only ran with one girl from my team at the meets and she would encourage me and was just as competitive as I was/am. We would use each-other to get faster. I owe part of my PR to her because I wouldn't have thought I could run that fast if she wasn't there ❤️ 😄.
A special part of our XC group was that before each meet we'd pray together and then do our little cheer. We prayed at all the practices too and really came to love each-other and encourage each-other in every way. One girl suggested that we sing, "Our God is an Awesome God" in the middle of our meet in our head if we were feeling stuck in a rut. Another girl encouraged us by telling us that, "God may not give you a boost of strength, but he'll give you a chance to use your strength," and I hope I quoted that right... The same girl after every one of her meets would say, "That one was for Jesus. He's the only way I made it through."
At the end of the season we have a little party and some people get awards. We all sat waiting... Two girls (me and another) had both won equal number of races. Some girls told me, "for sure MVP will go to you," but I wasn't sure. I had won the last meet, but the other girl had been winning more than I had. The coach informed us all that it was a really hard decision and that MVP could have gone to either of us, and it could've come down to the last race, but they had to get the award in advance, so they had to guess. The coach said it worked well because one had gotten MVP and the other had gotten the Most Christlike award. Our coach started tearing up well talking about how amazing each of us was. Then she called the other girl's name for MVP and I got Most Christlike. When I got up to where the coach was she told me, "Your peers really think highly of you," and by this point the tears were rolling down her face and tears were forming in my eyes. I took the award and gave her a hug and walked back to my seat. I was so honored at receiving this award. I thought for sure that the other girl should've gotten them both. And the other girls could've all gotten Most Christlike and it would've been true. Everyone was amazing! I am forever thankful for my XC family ❤️!!
-Verla Burger
