Cross country is a running event similar to a marathon; however, it happens on a rough, uneven terrain. It’s often used by runners to build their stamina and endurance. The cross country was organized as a race this time by our school. The experience for me, cross country was like a challenge; it was a 5 km long distance and the weather was harsh. My goal was to get over the finish line. I participated in cross country not to beat others, not to compete against others, but with myself to know whether I had reached the capability of completing an event such as this. 

LO1: Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth

• In the cross-country running event, even though I hadn’t participated in something like this before, I felt as if I could easily compete in the event and complete the race. And I did, I knew inside me that I could do it, and it happened. From this, I identified my strength which was my confidence to do anything and everything if I set my mind towards it. A weakness however could be that I didn’t complete the race in the time that I expected myself to complete, meaning that I can always be better at it and improve my timings a lot. I feel good that I am aware of it, I always try to work on my weaknesses and I feel great once I overcome them. I think it is important for us to know our strengths and weaknesses so that we know who we are and what we need to improve in ourselves. It’s always great to have a sense of reality set in your mind about yourself instead of thinking that everything is perfect when something can still be improved. I would like to work on my weakness and if I do work on it there would be a benefit of being better than myself in terms of physical fitness, which is always great to have as a benefit since health and fitness should be the main priority of a human’s life. 

LO2: Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process

• The main challenge in the whole cross-country event was running the 5 kilometres in such a harsh sunny and heated weather/environment. It was challenging since I am not used to running in such a harsh environment for such a long distance, and I haven’t done anything of the sort ever before. I overcame this challenge by believing in myself and knowing that I could complete this and that I knew that I had to complete this since completing this was both a challenge and a goal that I had to achieve. After undertaking this challenge, I feel great that I participated in the event since it promotes fitness and it was not only about breaking the physical barriers personally but also the mental barrier of underestimating myself and breaking that kind of barrier inside me in order to gain new kinds of confidence. I feel as if it is very important to undertake these kinds of new challenges so that we are never in our own comfort zone and we know that you are not perfect and there is always something to work on and something to improve in yourselves. I discovered a new skill when running at long distances, you should run at a slow and steady pace which helps the body endure the whole long run, this is a skill that would also come in handy for the future as well, running is very important, whether it be for fitness or for sports, hence this skill that I have discovered while undertaking this challenge will be very helpful to me in the future. It’s important to keep learning new skills, to keep evolving one’s self so that you always know something new and the more the knowledge and skills you gain the better it is, since its limited skills and knowledge and skills are never enough for one. 

LO4: Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences

• Since this was a running event with such a harsh environment and I had to run for a long distance, this activity required perseverance and commitment to finish it. I feel that even though the activity itself was hard, I discovered something in myself that once I get committed to something I finish it, even if I have to persevere through all the challenges. I had to be committed in order to cross that finish line and to keep running the whole way. I feel showing perseverance and being committed to your goals is important in order to achieve your goals and it’s actually necessary if you want to achieve your goals. 

LO6: Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance

• Health and fitness have become a huge global issue in today’s world, where almost over one-third of the world is obese and they don’t work out. Activities such as running and cross country are important in order to work against this issue and once someone participates in such an event then they can also self-realize how important it is to work on their fitness seeing their own performance in the cross country event. Knowing about these issues, and how I couldn’t perform well in this event makes me feel as if I really need to work on my fitness and that’s actually great since it gives me a new goal to work on. It contributed to my personal growth since firstly this event gave me confidence that I can actually do things like these, and secondly, this inspires me to work more on myself. I think my work in this CAS activity works as a step against this global issue that everyone is facing. 

LO7: Recognize and consider the ethics of choices and actions

• I feel that there was an ethical issue involved in this activity, all the students had to run in high heat and very harsh weather conditions, due to which many students also faced dehydration. This issue did affect me and it was an ethical issue since the conditions were so harsh that the race could have been cancelled as it became a hazard. What I was feeling at that point was that this only added to the challenge and that it was a part of this “Cross country” event. This was my opinion before the event happened and after participating in it, it still didn’t change. It was an ethical issue overall of whether the event should happen or not, but then again due to the commitment and the perseverance, all students completed the race. 

To conclude, I developed the learner profile attributes of risk taker and open-mindedness. I was risk-taking by being confident about running the 5 kilometres and I was also open-minded to do it, I feel that this activity benefited all the people who participated in it since it gave them new learnings about themselves and helped them work on their physical fitness as well. The highlight of this experience for me was when I was running the 5 kilometres and how in the middle of it I felt as if giving up but then at the back of my mind, I was pushing myself to run the whole thing. At the end of the event, I felt that I achieved my goal of completing it, I enjoyed the entire experience and it made me feel good that I did it.