Throughout high schools all across the nation, a heated debate has been going on for decades. The question: Is Cross Country a sport? Many will say “no” and claim that almost anyone can run. While this is true, I believe that Cross Country is not only a sport, but the hardest sport.
That’s right, I said it. The hardest sport. No other sport will ever challenge you mentally and physically as Cross Country does unless you count all of the severe cases of CTE that millions of football players suffer from. Cross Country is not just a sport, it is hell. It is just endless running and running and running. You can’t stop no matter how much your conscience tells you to. I’d like to see the average person run 12 miles at a 7:30 mile pace. To keep it simple, most would likely struggle to get past three miles, probably even one mile, at that pace. To Cross Country runners that is just another day at practice.
In other sports, you can take a day off or take shortcuts or cheat yourself a little bit, but in Cross Country if you do that it directly shows in your race time. Cut a mile off of your long run, your endurance is weak. Run your workout under pace, you will struggle to kick at the end of your race. Run your easy day too fast, you’ll be too tired at your race. Stay up late talking to that one girl, you’ll be tired. Eat out at Taco Bell with your friends, that is really gonna hurt. Every part of your daily life affects how you do at your race and other sports just don’t show that.
With all these long days of running so much, it takes a serious toll on the body. Runners suffer from the most tedious and frustrating injuries. There are so many tiny muscles in your legs that runners use daily and can easily be aggravated. It is so frustrating when this tiny little muscle called a hip flexor stops you from running one day and then the pain spreads to your knee the next day and then to your ankle the next. One injury leads to more and more until one day it stops.
That is why Cross Country is the hardest sport. Others may disagree on whether it is the hardest or not, but no one should say it is not a sport.
