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Cross country needs you

By Chris Babcock, 08/19/21, 2:15PM CDT

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With a (near) normal start to the school year this year it may be time to try something new. Why not cross country?

As many of you know Fall athletics has started at CDH. I wanted to invite you to come out for cross country. If you have been in my classes or on my teams you know me and how I approach athletics and training. (If not check me out here.) There will be no surprises there. 

If you are not in a Fall sport, I would encourage you to come out for cross country (even if you don't find this article until the first or second or third day of school). Here is why:

1) Time - practices are from 3-5 pm daily, and we often finish earlier than that
    - Meets are also only 2 hours long at the most. I find that we are home by 6:30 after most meets. (there are 8 of them)

2) size of the team - right now there are 3 girls on the team (2 seniors and 1 8th grader, all of them were on track last spring).For the boys there are 14 members (5 9th graders, 1 10th grader, 2 11th graders, and 6 12th graders). The teams are small so you will definitely have an impact.

3) Your health - physical and mental (article on mental health benefits for teens - https://www.psychotherapistaustin.com/blog/running). Running is a great way to release endorphins in your brain that help you to deal with anxiety, and  depression, and help you to feel happier. Physically I find that I feel a lot better after I finish a run, even when it doesn't feel that great during the run.

4) Perspective - Running gives you a whole different look at the world around you. You get to slow down and unplug. There aren't 50 "messages" flying at you a minute. (Unless you run through a swam of gnats - yuck. The extra protein is nice, but the wiggle on the way down. :))

5) Achievement - If you have never run like this you will be able to say that you have achieved something (that many of your classmates have not). One thing that kids who join late in their high school career say is that they wish they had done it earlier.

There are more reasons, but you will have to discover them for yourself.

 We are running 3 different groups - beginning, intermediate (JV/V), and advanced (V). Athletes are grouped based on their experience and fitness level. The beginners are running timed runs (10 minutes out and 10 minutes back). The other two are running distances 4-8 miles. We do calisthenics daily - including weight work in the fitness center.

If you have questions please send me an email cbabcock@c-dh.org.

 See you soon - on the team or in the halls.