The Lives of Lake Stevens High School runners

Many people think Cross Country is too hard or difficult, but it takes hard work and dedication like every other sport like football, soccer, tennis, volleyball, baseball, or softball, and more. It takes dedication and hard work to be great at what you want to be. Knowing that it takes a certain mindset to focus yourself to be in the mind of a runner is quite difficult. Teaching young runners/teenagers the importance of running can be difficult and a fun sport also. That not everything can be an easy job like writing down a word on paper or texting on your phone. Cross Country takes multiple runs and even teammates to like the sport. Some people want to just quit in the first week or even the first month because they feel like it’s too hard but when time passes and they start working out and running it will get easier.

The main girls coach, Josh Fountain, chose to coach Cross Country because “It can challenge a person physically and emotionally” and he had also said, “that he likes the team aspect of Cross Country, it can take a bunch of crazy people that wanna go out and race a 5k(3.1 miles) and can

brings them all together, creates a family environment that can run a crazy race together, and it’s an awesome test of mind over matter”.

The mentality of a runner can just be complicated and difficult to understand. People need to understand that people need to focus on their mental health and physical growth like some of the runners had said in their interview that they do it because of their physical and mental growth/ health. Not everyone understands what they go through and what they face along the way. Some of the runners can be so stressed that it can ruin their own race or if they are focused on something else it can also possibly ruin their own race. It can be challenging, but when facing the problem they can justify their mental health with other runners from different teams or their teammates or even their coaches. The coach’s

understand what Cross Country runners have to go through and that it is a rough understanding of if they will become a great runner but the aspect of the challenges that they face are much harder to overcome. 

The other girls coach, Jennifer Roe aka Coach Jen, had said, “Well I really enjoy running myself, and had a great experience running all through high school and college, and I just enjoy working with young people and just spending time, and watching them reach their goals and develop, and so that is why I wanted to do it”.  

Through growth and development that nothing can be easy to deal with and easy to overcome then most things are. They take time and focused mindsets to trust yourself to push till the end of the run or the race. 

Boys Coaches, Stuart Chaffee aka Coach Stu said “I love the sport itself, I think that XC(Cross Country) teaches a ton of really valuable life lessons about hard work, accountability, teamwork, etc.. I also really love the kids on the team. XC runners tend to be excellent students and great citizens, as well as talented athletes, so it’s fun to get to come to practice everyday and spend time around them. I also love helping kids achieve their goals. It’s a lot of fun to see kids celebrate successful races at the end of their season when you know how hard they’ve worked, and you’ve seen all the daily sacrifices that they’ve made along the way to put themselves in those situations”. 

The other boys Coach, Drew Larson said, “In Cross Country we have all levels. We have beginners to state qualifiers, we have competitive fierce racers, to those who are here to have fun, and it is fun. I continue to coach because I continue to see athletes have fun, and have fun myself coaching. I coach with many talented coaches (one of the biggest staff in the state), and we are able to provide each athlete with insight on their running form and help them understand how they can better themselves. This allows for much personal success (which is fun to see improvements), and health benefits from running and being in physical shape. These lessons that are learned can be used to better each athlete for the rest of their lives. I continue to coach these kids because they continue to have fun, be fun, and enjoy the sport”. 

Knowing people can be taught something so easy as a simple math equation or to write the letter A down on paper, it is not that simple but is complicated. 

The Girls Captain, Rachel O’malley(Senior) says “When I was in 7th grade, I was pretty fast in P.E and my friends were all doing it(Cross Country), that even though I’ve always hated running maybe I’ll be good at it so I went for it”. Later asking why she likes running now “It depends on the beginning of the race, that it can depend on the day, some days you can feel fresh and really great to run, and feel so happy, then other days when I’m exhausted it is so hard to get myself to run but after ever single run that I’ve ever raced in, I’ve always been grateful that I did it, and been so happy”. After all of that she had recommended some songs for anybody that wants to go on a run, namely “Could Have Been Me” by The Struts or “Everytime We Touch” By Cascada. 

The Boys Captain, Jakob Broadbent(Senior) says, “I really enjoy Cross Country that’s why I joined, I love running outdoors from a young age and going on hikes with my family. I would often run the trails zooming around corners and my eyes would be scanning the roots and rocks, being careful not to trip on them. I had heard that Cross Country was on dirt paths and hikes that was all I could imagine. I keep coming back each year because I really want to get the boys team to State”. Why can a person like running, “Well, it’s kinda a love-hate relationship. At the moment running is often really difficult, especially mentally, but on nice easy runs or even slow long runs where you can just chill and think are one of my favorite places to be. Racing is almost always a blast, especially when there’s runners I know on the other teams, while it may hurt it lasts 17 minutes and once it’s over I can celebrate and look back realizing what I just did”. Jakob said he doesn’t really listen to music on his runs but if he would to get in the mood for the race he would listen to “Can’t Hold Us” by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, “A Thousand Bad Time” by Post Malone, and “Livin’ On a Prayer” by Bon Jovi.  had said that “A Thousand Bad Times” by Post Malone is a perfect match to his running cadence. 

Anthony Long(Junior) and Ella Edens(Senior) are both on varsity on the team. Anthony Long says, “I’ve been running ever since like first grade and it made sense, I enjoy running, it’s kinda weird because I get a lot of crap for it, for not a lot of people it doesn’t make sense but it’s very therapeutic for me”. Ella Edens had said in her interview that, “I first started Cross Country freshman year because my brother was doing it and it was his senior year and I wanted to run with him for one year, then I kinda got forced into it sophmore year but over time I started to like it my other two years. I have liked it more. This season has already been much more fun than any of the other seasons I’ve ever had”. They didn’t have any song in particular but had both said to run with anything that you like, and can “run to the beat of your running pace”. 

It can help a person physically and mentally. Although I am a Cross Country runner and love the sport, other people don’t and are not willing to try it out until the last minute, when everyone on the team has made such good friends. But sometimes you need to take the risks that can be a difficult change in your life and you could even injure yourself but people need to realize that they were trying their hardest no matter what. So all in all, Cross Country takes dedication, effort, mental and physical growth, and loving the sport.