First Time Cross Country, REAL BAD. Need to run further!

Hello, Today was my first ever cross country. It was such an embarrasment how bad i actually was. I was fine about the first 0.5 mile then I got VERY warn out and felt sick. I couldent keep up with the group i am the only girl in a group of boys who all play for football teams etc. Then theres me, 7 and a half stone 5'4 and a girl. Its hard and i ended up walking the rest of the 2 miles.

I would like to keep up next weeks lesson, ive worked out its going to be 3miles. Its like im stuggaling infront of a bunch of pro's!

Its even more embarasing because we have 'checkpoints' where we wait for other members, but of course im the only one lagging behind.

Has anyone got any stratagies or tips or anyway I can make it?

I have an ipod but i need stamina, and i cant take my mind of running


I need help!

Thanks.

Your asking for help and thats a good start,
And remember, your doing a lot better than the people that said they were going to try running and never did.

Im not the best runner on this forum, but I can help a little. i wasnt in high school country, but i did play other high school sports, i know its hard, but try not worry about everything else is thinking, they are on your team, they want to help you.

The best advice i was told was "slow down." the most common mistake for new runners is that they run too fast right away, everyone does.

sounds like your new to the sport, you will get better every week.
run your first mile nice and slow for the next few weeks so you can keep running the other two, the speed will come later, you wont even have to think about it.
Pick a spot a mile away from your house, run to that and back. it doesnt matter how fast your going, just slow down so you can make it. you can do this after practice when no one is around. slow down as much as you have to so you can make it, even if you feel like you could walk faster, just keep doing the motion of running, running i a lot different than walking.
you might feel like your not getting better, but you are, concentrate on breathing.

stick with it, there are a lot of people here that can help better than i can, im sure you will get some more repsonsed shortly.

thanks for joining the forum, you will find a lot of help here. it going to be difficult to start with a group of boys, but stick with and you will be running with them and probably ahead of them.
at 7.5 stone (i had to google that to see how much it was) your a great size for running. stick with this for a couple months and i will bet that you are going to be very good.
If you kept up with a group of boys who run a lot, on your first day, for a half mile, your doing great.
the stamina will come just from running more, run after practice, by yourself, nice and slow.

More people are on the forum later in the day afte work and school and Im sure a lot of people will be helping you out.

When I started running I could only run for 1 minute at a time and even when I was running a mile at a time I think I saw a snail pass me! You will do fine. Just keep going!

Pandabite - first of all, good for you. It takes a lot of guts to even try in the first place so good job. Second, I know exactly how you feel, last May I couldn't run to the end of my block, seriously. I just kept trying and now i am winning my age group in 5K races and can run 10 miles (my farthest so far). As everyone else said, go slow to start. I think you should try it a couple times by yourself and go as slow as you can as far as you can. Once you get more confident you will get better pretty quickly. Keep it up!

welcome Panda!
I can sense the discouragement in your post, but Don't.Give.Up!! Like anything, it just takes a bit of time and the first few sessions might be tough and you might feel like you won't be good enough, but just hang in there. Persevere! Show them what you are made of! when I first started running (much later in life than you!), I could barely hang in there for 1-2 minutes. But after a week, I could already see drastic improvement and after a couple weeks, I could run about 10-15 min without a break and after only 4 wks I was running a 5K, without stopping.
just remember to not start out too quick, concentrate on regulating your breathing, and keep a pace where if you needed to make small talk you could. The speed will come, don't push it.
How often do you have cross country practice?
I hope you come back and let us know how the next practice went for you!

Hey girl...some great things said here by some pretty awesome people...Don't give up just yet. Lets try to do this together. shall we?? first of all Joe is right slow down...turtle pace...bring it on. even if you run for one minute and walk two minutes then run one minute...it will be so much easier for you. continue that pattern until you reach your full three miles. if you need to walk more do so...if you can run more do so. work on this before next week. alittle at a time so you are not so sore the next day. endurance takes time and practice. there should be no hurry.
I would also talk to your coach too...find out what he/she can do to help you along.
don't worry about the boys. they smell funny anyway. this is about you! there is nothing wrong with walking and running together. it is how some people train for a marathon. (jeff galloway)

good luck...check back here ofter. I wanna know how you are doing.