It’s a peaceful afternoon in the woods of Oberursel: the sun shining, birds chirping, and the peace being broken only by the sound of breathing and feet slapping gravel.

The FIS cross country team is at it again – but why?

The fall sports team practices after school, running distances anywhere from 2.5 to 5 kilometers. They run hills and trails together as a 6-12 grade team. They stretch together, train together, and even go on trips together. Yet the question still escapes us: why would anyone choose to put themselves through the sort of pain of running a 2.5k up a hill, or a 5k at full speed?
“I do cross country because it’s a great sport to seriously push yourself, and it’s really fun,” 8th grader Ella explains. She is this year’s middle school girls team captain, and has been in cross country since 6th grade. Her favorite part of the sport is, “seeing all the nature while running, because it’s really fun to see”.

“For me, my dad always did it, so I look up to him a lot, and I wanted to run too,” freshman Lily explains. She is the captain this year for the high school girls, and this is her second year of cross country. This season, she’s looking forward to, “competing, staying in shape…making new connections and making new goals,” as well as, “breaking [her] boundaries!”

“I do cross country ‘cause it’s fun to compete and run against others,” 8th grader and middle school boy’s captain Beau explains. “Really last year I was just trying out, seeing what would happen, but I came back this year and I realized how much fun it is, so I’m here again.” According to him, the part of the sport that is the most fun is, “just practicing with the team.”

But these athletes aren’t only on this team just for fun. Ella says that cross country has helped teach her about, “pushing yourself to the limit,” as well as how to be able to, “just be able to be by yourself and push yourself.” Similarly, 7th grader Omar says that cross country is, “very good for endurance building”. This season, he says he is looking forward to competing, building up his body, and improving himself and his times.

That still leaves us with the eternal question: how to find time for it? “If you’re committing to a sport you have to really commit to it, you can’t slack off after practice, you have to do your work,” Omar explains. “There’s a bunch of [things] outside of showing up to training you need to do to be a good athlete.” Lily adds, “I think if you really care about something, you’ll make time for it.”

And time and time after again, these athletes prove this true. Despite homework, clubs, and other activities getting in the way, these busy students make time in their schedules to meet each other in the woods. They still find time to race each other through the trails, learning how to push themselves to their physical and mental limits, for nature and nurture, joy and fun, and for what they all have in common – the love to run.

And off they go again.