Running is a healthy intoxication, adorned with withdrawal, jubilation and self-doubt.

I often hear individuals confessing that they can’t run anything more than a lap. That really doesn’t matter. What matters in cross country is how many times you are willing to run that lap your hardest, so that next time you will run one step farther, and then another. What matters in cross country is that you give the ground all you have. What matters in cross country are not so much your shoes and your socks and your one-hundred dollar moisture-wicking lightweight shirt, but your heart. It matters that your teammates cheer for you and that your coaches scream your time and most importantly it matters that you have faith in yourself.

Often the very things that hold us back are the same things that propel us forward. One drizzly day our cross country team took the bus to River Meadows Park. Our practice that day was to do a couple 800 meter runs (each equivalent to two laps around the track). This was hard enough as it was (we usually prefer long slow distance) and then it began to rain. It poured and poured and poured. What was remarkable about the run was not that we ran anyway, but that we ran anyway and enjoyed it. Usually when it rains, we complain. It is gross and wet and cold and very uncomfortable.

This time, there wasn’t really anything we could do. It was going to rain, and we were going to run. So we gave up trying to avoid it and instead we reveled in the beauty of the day, the feeling of the rain, and the nature surrounding us. We jumped in puddles instead of stepping around them. We didn’t run particularly fast; in fact the rain slowed us down considerably. Yet we felt “empowered,” as one teammate of mine described it.

Sometimes it feels to me as though our society becomes so focused on technology that we forget ourselves and become distracted from the delicate and unrestrained beauty of nature. Although technology also unites us, there are many instances when it commands our full attention and unnecessarily isolates us from friends and family. We can easily dismiss the necessity of nature and consequently forget the liberating feeling that comes with testing our potential, whether in running or any other activity.

This inspiring feeling is the driving force behind our feet in cross country. We seek it, and often meet it. In no way is fun lacking on our team, either. We laugh frequently, and we laugh together. Here in Arlington, we may be individuals racing, but we race as a team.

Safa Pinkens is a senior at Arlington High School where she competes on the cross country and track teams.