The cross country team hosted the annual Darlington Festival race on September 27. Three of the team’s runners placed top ten out of 2,000 runners. Most of these runners who placed in the top 10 have been running throughout their entire high school career and plan to continue running in college. Here’s an insight into the runners’ thoughts, feelings, and plans for the near future with running.

“I ran middle school to now, high school, and I’m a junior, and probably in college if I can,” junior Cora Fannin said. “During the race, I was feeling pretty good because it was our home course, which was a good advantage, but it’s also a very repetitive course, so I wanted to be done as soon as possible. I was seventh in the Girls’ Varsity division.”

In addition to most of the race being deemed as repetitive, others noted that it can be vigorous, and they wanted to get it over with.

“I’ve been running since ninth grade, and I would like to run on a team in college,” said senior Zach Kimani. “The race is tough. I mean, you start off with sprinting, and then, you settle into your pace. So it’s calming then, but then, as the race progresses, it just gets harder. But when you’re finishing, I think it’s the most painful, but it’s also the best part, because you know you’re almost done, so you can just put your all into it. I placed 17th overall in the Boys’ Varsity.

Some runners have thoughts of finishing the race to keep them moving, or thoughts of strategies to finish off the strongest way possible. However, others might not have any thoughts at all and blank mind to get through the race.

“I’ve run cross country since ninth grade and plan to run in some shape or fashion in college. Nothing goes through my head. To be honest, my mind’s pretty blank during races. I was also seventh overall in my division,” senior Lee Donahue said.

On the other hand, despite the runner’s perspective of cross country meets, the volunteers who make these meets possible have some insights into what it’s like for them.

“It was pretty impressive to see people wake up a five in the morning on a weekend to find such a massive race,” junior Annika Kuo said. I volunteered for the festival for service hours, and also to see what people do for cross country. I like the courses and seeing all the differences from different schools that run cross country. I was really excited to see our school place so high. It was pretty impressive for them.”