Track vs. Cross Country

One of the great things about track compared to cross country in my opinion is that in track there are different races you can run at each meet. A bad thing about track compared to cross country is that since there are different races that you can run in, in a track meet, you may have to run more than one event.

I enjoy getting to run different races in track. With track since there are many different events you don’t always have to run the same race or event every meet like you do in cross country. Instead you have the possibility to be running a different race at each meet.

Because there is so many different races, most people will run more than one race at each. The most races you can run at one track meet is four. For sprinters running four races isn’t too much, especially if they only run one hundreds or two hundreds and the races are spread out throughout the meets. When you are a distance runner, running four races is a lot and is very difficult. My sister runs distance in track so she normally only runs 2 races at a meet.  She normally runs the 3000 meter race at the beginning of the meet and then will normally run the 1500, a 400 or an 800 meter race later on in the meet.

I think it is easier to run multiple races when they are shorter and are more spread out. I run mainly middle distance races so I run a lot of 400s and 800s and I probably run about three races a meet. Running three races during a meet is normally not too bad when they are spread out and the meet is a longer meet. One time I ran at a junior varsity meet and the meet lasted half the time it normally does so I was running races that weren’t spread out very much. It was horrible because by the time I went to run my second race I was still really tired and ran fifteen seconds slower than I normally do.

I like track better than I like cross country, in part because I like to be able to run different things at each meet and if my events are spread out evenly it’s not too hard to run multiple events at one meet. One thing I do like better about cross country is that each course you run at is different and in track you are always just running laps around a track.

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