Blankenship
AP Human Geography
16 August 2013
A Familiar Place
1. Coming from a museum magnet middle school with intramural sports to competitive high school sports, I knew cross country would be unfamiliar. At the curriculum fair, I signed up for both track and cross country not knowing the difference. I had never heard of cross country before, but I thought I would give it a try. Doing intramural track the year before, I had some knowledge about the sport. The words “cross country” didn’t ring any bells about running across the country as it does everybody else. I know we would run a lot in practices and during races, but not exactly how much.
2. My first day of practice I was mentally and physically prepared for one mile. I survived the half-mile warm-up and stretching, not expecting what was yet to come. Our workout for that day was three miles on the track, which wasn’t that bad. For my first couple of weeks I stayed on the track, and then I was ready to run the trails. I wasn’t familiar with the area, but I took directions well, running behind everyone, looking for the places they told me in relation to my destination. We’d usually run the same place weekly so I was getting used to them and was able to give some relative directions to the newer people.
3. I’ve traveled to Martinsville, VA almost every year for as long as I can remember to visit my grandpa and cousins for vacation, family reunions, and the like. Although I don’t live there, I