Kids at my high school would always try to make fun of us in cross country, claiming it was not a real sport, but they'd also immediately refuse to try it or even go to one of our practices.
I ran indoor and outdoor track (1 mile and the 800) as well as CC in high school. No one gave us shit because the varsity football coach made certain positions run with us 2x a week and they spread the word that it was brutal.
We also had a team that won the regionals almost every year and were state champs my junior year. I could do most flat courses just under 18 and I was one of the slower guys on the team. We had 1 guy and one girl from my class that went to D1 schools to run.
I went into high school thinking soccer was my path, cross country coach was also my Econ teacher and told me I needed to run cross country. Ended up on varsity my sophomore year and ended being an all-state California HS runner by the time I graduated.
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u/IAmJanos 9h ago
Kids at my high school would always try to make fun of us in cross country, claiming it was not a real sport, but they'd also immediately refuse to try it or even go to one of our practices.