I had a unique beginning to organized running. I may be one of a very small handful of people that can claim that their first high school cross country practice was on the same day as their first high school cross country race.
When I was in middle school, I couldn’t wait to go to high school. Not for the academic opportunities, not for the social prospects, but to play sports. I loved all sports, especially baseball. But, like most athletic minded thirteen-year-olds, my main interests were football, basketball, and baseball. I had no idea what cross country was other than what the name sounded like. I had this mental image that all you did was run around the countryside. Football was a lot more glamorous.
So, shortly after the first weeks of school, came the first day of freshman football tryouts. Each day, we all walked up the hill to a practice field dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt and ran through a series of wind sprints and passing and catching drills. Every once in a
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I introduced myself and asked if it were still possible to join the cross country team. Unlike today, where legally high school athletes are required to have a specific number of practices under their belt before they are allowed to compete, I was allowed to join the team immediately. After filling out a few forms, I thanked him for the opportunity. But, as I was leaving the room, he said “Just so you know, today is the team’s first race of the season and I’m going to let you run. You can use it as your first practice.” About nine hours later I was standing on my first starting line awaiting my first cross country race.. For a uniform, I had to use my all-cotton gym shorts and T-shirt. For running shoes, I had no choice but to use my high-cut Converse basketball sneakers. Heck, at that point I didn’t realize that they even made shoes for