As us seniors wrap up our high school careers and begin planning for the “real world,” as every lecturing parent likes to call it, it’s important to take a pause in our busy lives and be thankful for friends, family, and the memories we have been lucky enough to make with them.

This year, November, a month deemed by the pilgrims as the perfect time to give thanks, seems to be the month where I experience feelings of gratefulness and nostalgia, consequently.

Such feelings of gratitude stem from the conclusion of my last season of what, to my surprise, has become one of my favorite aspects about being a student at Hereford High: cross country.

Before joining the team, I would have never thought of cross country as such an enjoyable experience. I completely judged its appearance. However, our coaches create a balance between pleasure and hard work; it’s a hybrid of a comfortable atmosphere and a let’s-go-win-states attitude, which is perfect for the enjoyment of the sport. Besides, winning the county and state championships is fun enough by itself.

The Hereford Cross Country team is a program; it is not simply defined by four teams of JV and Varsity boys and girls. Every member of the unit is involved in every crazy aspect of the sport: the trail runs and the timed trail runs, the hill workouts, the mile repeats, the track workouts fashioned by our devoted coaches, and of course… the pasta parties.

As a result of such amalgamation, I have formed numerous relationships with people I would have otherwise never crossed paths with, which I thank cross country for. The direct precipitant of this integrated nature of our group is the success we’ve been able to experience. Our in-this-together attitude is the root cause of our frequent winning of the state championship. After all, our team motto is “do it for the other six.”

We make sure to flaunt this ideal proudly on the t-shirts that the varsity girls team makes each year, another tradition that we do before states. We are proud to have such a close knit family of runners dedicated to each other and the sport. And we have tradition to thank for this. Regardless of which genre they fall under, each tradition is part of what makes Hereford cross country so great. My subsequent feelings of reminiscence creep in.

As of Nov 10, I will never do another french toast breakfast at Coach Roemer’s, or a pasta party with surprisingly competitive matches of Nukem, or an 11 mile hill workout followed by a feast consisting of every piece of food in my household. I’ll never do another mystery run that leads us to only God knows where, and I’ll never do another Onesie Pie Party, which quite literally is a gathering involving pie-eating in onesies. This is one of the several traditions held by the team in preparation for the state meet, which brings me to my last piece of sentiment: I will never run so gosh darn hard alongside my six amazing teammates in competition for a state title.

This year being only my second year of the sport implies a whole lot about the program. I imagine that my teammates finishing up year four of cross country have even more to say on the matter.

But as my time as a cross country runner draws to a close, I’d like to say two things: (1) thank you to my teammates and two coaches for making my experience with Hereford cross county unforgettable, and (2) if you’re reading this as a non-senior that’s not “out-y” after May 24, join cross country next year! It’s a blast!