The Answer

I get asked almost every single day why I choose to run cross country. Well, now I have an answer. 

The Park City Cross Country Team lost five seniors last year who made up five of the seven spots on the 2013 State team. This year our state team consisted of one senior, two juniors, three sophomores, and a freshmen. PCHS has never gone to State as the underdog but this year was very different. Everyone was doubting our success. 

I don’t think I have ever been so nervous for something in my entire life, mostly because of the pain I knew I would soon be experiencing. Yes, running three miles as fast as you can feels horrible. No, I don’t know why I do it.  I am hoping to learn to love that feeling at some point in the next four years. 

Besides the suffer factor, our entire team had a lot of unspoken weight riding on our shoulders.

Pine View. White Jerseys. Beat em’. They are the team. The team that was the only roadblock to our glory. 

Diggin' Deep

My coach informed me about two weeks before state that I needed to  beat Pine View’s last two runners. In order to do this, I would either have to run my PR(personal record) or be only seconds off of it. Not an easy task considering my PR was set on a very easy course. 

The dreaded gun went off and the misery began. My only focus: Pine View. 

Their girls were in front of me through the entire course.  I could see the bright white jerseys at least ten seconds ahead of me the entire way. Everyone from Park City, but mostly the agro moms, shouted “White jerseys, Liza, white jerseys!” I hope they are reading this because then maybe they would realize their “words of encouragement” are not encouraging at all. They are pretty much the complete opposite. Like seriously, why don’t you come and run a 5K as fast as you can, up hills, in the scorching heat, with five thousand people shouting in your face “PINE VIEW, LIZA!” It’s not pleasant. I knew my focus from the minute I stepped over that line, I didn’t need some crazy moms reminding me that I was, at that point, not in line to reach my goal. 

The last four hundred meters of the course were on the track at Highland High School. Three Pine View girls were about five seconds ahead of me.

At this point in the race, a runner has nothing left. Their legs feel heavy, their arms dead. Their mouth feels like they just ate a spoonful of powdered sugar, only it tastes like sweat and makes you want to puke. 

This is usually the moment we are supposed to speed up but due to our condition that rarely happens. 

State Champions! WOOHOO

But it did happen and PCHS won their seventh consecutive state title this year by a mere four seconds; the closest race to date. The difference: we sped up when everyone else slowed down. We dug deep when it really counted and were able to pull past those infamous white jerseys. I was definitely not one of the fastest runners on the state team but I still contributed and that will be my new answer when somebody asks me why I choose to run.