“The first week of cross country will always be painful,” cross country captain senior Namrata Subramanian said with a laugh. “It’s hard to explain running to non-runners, but once you get past the first week and start running, you’ll realize why I run.”

Subramanian has been running since she was a child and believes that her father being a marathon runner helped her fall in love with the sport. She ran several races in elementary school and has completed a half-marathon.

“I don’t think I would have joined cross country if it weren’t for him running,” Subramanian said, “but because he was a runner, he inspired me to be a runner, and I’m glad for that.”

Though Subramanian has been running outside of school and admits that running at school may have helped her improve, she never participated at her middle school since she felt that middle school running wasn’t the type of running she wanted to do.

“I didn’t really join cross country in middle school, because it was too short distance for me, so I got to try out in high school,” she said.

Subramanian believes that cross country is a life-long sport, and plans to continue throughout college. She is currently talking to college coaches, in order to continue running after MVHS.

Subramanian also believes that running cross country has taught her many life lessons, including leadership abilities. She hosted a running camp for children of all ages over the summer, and also led a prom running group last year.

“In cross country I’m also a captain, and most of my leadership experience has come from cross country,” Subramanian said. “Cross country has taught me so much.