By Samson Le
The familiar-sounding alarm wakes me from my perfect eight hours of sleep and gets me up for the first cross country race of the year. For breakfast, it’s the typical: an egg sandwich paired with a banana, washed down with a glass of water.
Upon my entry into the school track, the sight is uncharacteristic of a typical cross country meet. Where there were once dozens of canopies with heaps of runners’ bags are now spaced-out bags in an open field. Runners used to crowd around each other, but the social atmosphere isn’t as lively anymore.
After watching the start of the varsity boys’ and girls’ races, my group begins running our warm-up, a process where we prepare our leg and arm muscles for racing. It sparks memories of prior years, where we all were able to talk to each other and devise plans for achieving fast times. Now, though, we all wear masks to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
The rest of the warming-up process continues normally. It brings a sense of nostalgia to me, reminding me to keep my spirits strong in the hopes of having a successful yet fun season. As we warm up, I envision our past—early mornings of sleep-deprived runners anticipating impressive times. Once the race begins, we’re able to take our masks off so that we can perform at our maximum efforts.
As the starter goes through instructions, the phrase “runners, you have two commands,” brings memories of past races to my mind. The crackling boom of the starting pistol goes off, and the three-mile race begins. The clamors of people cheering us runners on brings comfort into my mind, as I realized that cross country is moving out of its restrictive era and into a period of normality.
The second and third mile are a battle for strong mentality as I try to pass the other runners. Tired, sore, and sweaty are typical in these last hundred meters of the race, and after the finish, we end in slow, pants of air. We all hunch over in excruciating pain and satisfaction of completion. Then, in a return to the reality of our circumstances, we put our masks on again and socially distance from each other.
Overall, the first cross country meet of the season during the COVID-19 pandemic was successful. The new pandemic guidelines ensured a minimal risk of COVID-19 spread, while allowing us to taste the beginnings of normality—and, for a few moments, relive memories of cross country meets, crowds of cheering people and the spirited social atmosphere we miss.
