After a weekend of rainy weather in Michigan, I saw a lot of
posts and Reels and the like on social media of kids running and falling in the
mud. This is no different than when it snows later in the season and we get all
sorts of media on kids running in snow and ice, and along with these
posts, we get comments like “real cross country”.
Casual car racing spectators have always been interested in crashes and it's often reflected in the media coverage of NASCAR. But the real racing fans know there is
so much more to motor racing that the casual fan doesn’t appreciate.
Casual track fans love the steeplechase
because people fall in the water, but they perhaps miss the greatness of runners
who can hurdle and run fast enough to be competitive in the mile and the 5000m.
Just like NASCAR, there is so much more than the casual fan sees.
Cross country in the media sometimes seems to be all about obstacles,
or the kid crashing into the post or falling repeatedly in the mud, or big
puddles or running in extreme weather. Yes, it’s fun to see the crashes and it shows
how tough the sport can be. But it’s not necessarily, as some people like to say, “real
cross country.”
Real cross country is running on hills and trails and around
corners on grass and gravel, and yes, footing that isn’t perfect because of the
weather. It’s about running in the cold
and the heat. Real cross country is figuring out the best way to attack a
course, how to pace, how to run up hills and down hills and how to run as a
pack and win as a team. It’s about when
to push and when to back off and when to make a winning move. It’s not about
the crashes. There is so much more to this great sport.
A great cross country course is one that has hills, has some
turns, and is not always on the firmest or flattest surface. But it's also not an obstacle
course, so let’s not treat it that way when we show it off to others, and not just the blooper
reels.
Real cross country is the runners who make it look
effortless at times and those same runners fighting to the finish showing how
much effort it really takes. Real cross country are the practices that leave runners
exhausted but better. Real cross country is the pack working as a team. Real
cross country is the joy kids get when they run a good race or a new course PR. Real
cross country is what is learned through success and hardship in races and in
practice. Real cross country is discipline and commitment. Real cross country is
that runners of all shapes and sizes can excel and that hard work and good
habits make you better.
Real cross country is not crashes and mud bogs; there is so
much more that makes it the amazing sport that it is.
After a weekend of rainy weather in Michigan, I saw a lot of
posts and Reels and the like on social media of kids running and falling in the
mud. This is no different than when it snows later in the season and we get all
sorts of media on kids running in snow and ice, and along with these
posts, we get comments like “real cross country”.
Casual car racing spectators have always been interested in crashes and it's often reflected in the media coverage of NASCAR. But the real racing fans know there is
so much more to motor racing that the casual fan doesn’t appreciate.
Casual track fans love the steeplechase
because people fall in the water, but they perhaps miss the greatness of runners
who can hurdle and run fast enough to be competitive in the mile and the 5000m.
Just like NASCAR, there is so much more than the casual fan sees.