Cross Country and Injury

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

<p>I am in XC and have an injury... IDK what it is yet, but I haven't been able to run for 2 weeks. My doc thinks it is a stress fracture, which I will find out wednesday. The problem is that IF it is a stress fracture, I am pretty much out for the entire season. If it is not, I prbly got a lot slower and won't be able to run varsity.</p>

<p>How do you explain this to colleges?
I started XC this year (a junior) but since I have been running w/other groups, I ran two varsity races...
is this seriously going to ruin my college application? </p>

<p>ahhh.. this is so frustrating,
thanks for any advice on what I should do about it.</p>

2

<p>I don't see how it would hurt your chances.You could turn it to your advantage by still going to meets/managing/helping out in some other capacity. That would actually look really good. In college interviews, you could talk about how you overcame that setback.</p>

3

<p>A) I'm sorry- I got hurt in XC my junior year and it was horrible. I missed it so much, not to mention that my ankle was permanently damaged and I needed physical therapy and all that nonsense. You have my sympathy. </p>

<p>B) I still went to meets and carried water/cheered on my teammates. It was almost as fun as actually running with the team, and I still included XC as an extracurricular in my list. Unless you're good enough to run in college, being moved from varsity to JV by an injury will not hurt you in admissions. In fact, even not being able to run but remaining part of the team in partial attendance and spirit shouldn't hurt you either.</p>

4

<p>We have become experts on X-country injuries. Get an x-ray first. My S got injured his freshman yr in college, had made varsity was running the best he ever had, had the opportunity to go to Nationals so kept running through his injury, a definite no/no. He was told he had plantar fascitis but 10 months later was not healed, after seeing,physical therapists, podiatrists, acupuncture , wearing inserts, splints and on and on. Finally got an x-ray and he had had a stress fracture which healed but still had massive swelling around it. So get an x-ray and if it shows nothing an MRI. My S finally was seen by an orthopedic specialist.Every runner gets injured at some point so report your old times, get what treatment is needed for your injury. There is still track season, run the 2 mile and use those times. Have your coach write a letter for you and stay very involved with the team. My D is a freshman on a Div 1 team and is now injured after running 70 mile weeks. She is swimming this week. So stay in shape while you recover. It is hard, nothing worse for a runner then not being able to run. I run half marathons but not at paces like yours! Still I know how it feels when you can't run!</p>

5

<p>There seems to be a link between XC runners and intelligence. Almost all of the XC runners in our school are in NHS, but maybe one out of 50 kids on the football team makes it.</p>

6

<p>wraider, our coach made the same connection...of our 30 man JV and varisty squad 28 made the honor roll.</p>

7

<p>Same here...smart XC team that I am a proud member of. </p>

<p>DON'T RUN THROUGH YOUR INJURY</p>

<p>I did this last year and screwed up my season. Had a shot at varsity and lost it.</p>

8

<p>National research verifies what you have pointed out falconhopeful and wraider. Cross country runner have done quite well academically</p>

9

<p>Thanks for all the tips and encouragement.
I had pain in my heel that caused me enormous pain in the heel so I went to a podiatrist, who took an X-Ray where nothing showed up. He stll thought it was a Stress Fracture so he told me to come back Wednesday (three weeks later) and told me that it would be seen on the x-ray if it was a stress fracture. So, hopefully...
I have been thinking about staying involved in the team... but I don't know how!! What would I do when going to meets? Should I still come to practice? It would be sooo time demanding and that + cross training = crazy idea.</p>

<p>Haha the smart XC (as in NHS and challenging courses) thing doesn't apply to our team.. but the girls are realllyy nice and smart, they just don't have enough time (most of them do cross country AND another sport like soccer= insane)</p>

10

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<p>I agree. I live in San Diego, and so every year I go to the Footlocker National Finals. As each of the finalists gets introduced over the PA system before the start of the races, they recite both their athletic and academic achievements. Almost every kid is at least on the honor roll, and a very high percentage of them are straight-A, NMF, soon-to-be vals and sals. I see this every year.</p>

11

<p>Yep, our cross country team is pretty smart too. I just started this year (junior year) but I think I'm pretty much out for the rest of the season. It sucks because our girl's team is really small and if I can't run, then we don't have enough to score. I was really enjoying it too and I was on varsity. But, I have all the symptoms of a compression femoral neck stress fracture and go in tomorrow for x-rays and other tests. I don't know what I'll do if I do have a stress fracture:( I need my sports!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!</p>