Cross Country is an athletics event where individuals are supposed to run long distances in natural terrain. Physical fitness is equally important as Academics, but due to a rough transition from MYP to DP I could not focus much on my Physical health. However, choosing Cross Country under CAS gave me the perfect opportunity to work on the same as well. We had 3 Cross Country runs organized on 22nd of August, 6th of September, and 26th of September. The distances for these 3 events were 3 km, 5km, 5km respectively. We ran the first cross country alongside 7th and 8th graders, second run alongside 9th and 10th graders, and the third run alongside our classmates from 11th graders and 12th graders. 

LO 1 – Identify own strengths and areas for growth

Commencing with personal strengths, I have always been involved in physical activities and as a result I had a strong mindset while running these long distances so there wasn’t a single time when I gave up while running and started walking. I always reminded myself to keep on running even if it was at a slow pace and try to complete the race before almost everyone. Being involved in physical activities also made me realize that I had a better endurance level than most of the people who participated in cross country. However, due to a huge break in training during the summer vacation and reopening of school my endurance was at that level which was required for running an even longer distance of 5 km. I realized during the very first race as I felt exhausted after running only 3 km. I also realized that I had to adapt myself to running in natural terrain which was a part of cross country. During the first race, I got to know that running was different on uneven surfaces and muddy roads so I had to work on the same as well. 

LO 4 – Showing commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences

I have always believed that any task that we opt for, we should do it wholeheartedly and we should not do it just for the sake of doing it. I followed the same for cross country through several additional activities. As mentioned earlier, I knew that I had to work on my endurance to run the 5km run before most of the people. To fulfill the same, I dedicated some of my time to running 5km on the weekends that came before the next cross country run. I went on runs directly from my house to the airport and not on the treadmill as I also needed to learn to run effortlessly on the natural terrain which could not be possible on a treadmill. I also took a few of my friends along with me so that I do not give up and I also see it as a competition to complete the run as soon as possible. Other than going on runs to improve my endurance, I also did some research online on topics such as foods to eat before and after cross country runs, running pattern to follow during the run, warm-up and cool-down routines for muscle recovery, etc. I can say that showing commitment towards cross country did seem worth it as in the final run which was against 11th and 12th graders and was a competition, I managed to get third place which was really special for me as I competed against people who seemed to have way better endurance than me and against whom winning and competing seemed nearly impossible to me.

To conclude, I would like to mention that participating in all the cross country gave a great boost to my physical health and endurance. It also helped me build and maintain a winner mindset which would help me in all aspects of life. Lastly, it also motivated me to always include some or the other kind of physical activity in my routine to maintain good physical and cardio-vascular health as it will help me in the future as well.