This past weekend the cross-country team headed to Gypsum Colorado to exceed personal goals and expectations. This meet was very successful for many Palisade athletes, having many runners finish in the upper half of their competitors. Olivia Talley, a sophomore at Palisade, is entering her first year of cross-country. However, she is recovering from a hip injury she experienced at the beginning of the season. Talley states, “ I think the meet went pretty well, at the end I was in a lot of pain but overall, we did really well as a team. The course was more difficult than a lot of people expected just because it was on a new course but it was pretty fun.” The Palisade cross-country team is relatively small and it is not a super well-known sport throughout the school compared to other team sports like volleyball and football. Oftentimes, people feel intimidated by the sport of cross-country, and feel it is not for them because it is too hard and running ‘isn’t fun’. Although cross-country is a difficult sport and takes a lot of commitment to the team and yourself, cross-country not only teaches physicals fitness but how to have mental toughness.  Olivia Talley explains, “I think the hardest thing about cross country is having mental toughness and getting out of your own head. Our coach always says that you can do more than you think you can. Even though you feel like you’re getting super tired you can still keep pushing. Your brain is telling you that you can’t, but you can. It’s 90% mental and 10% physical.  It’s sometimes really hard to have a positive self-talk, especially in a setting of 100 other racers.” Although this is only Olivia‘s first year of cross-country, she expresses her excitement and love for the team. “I joined cross country because I really like running, it’s a pretty big passion of mine, I love staying in shape, and it’s a great way to do so. Just having the great group of people we have in cross country really is what made me want to do it. All of the seniors and upperclassmen have been so great and just super inviting and welcoming.” The next cross-country meet takes place on Saturday in Craig and the team is eager to show their commitment and improve as much as I can despite the obstacles put in their way.