Lauren+K’s+2018+OpEd+Article

=Its a Cult Thing= Th e declaration youall have been waiting for: the foothill technology high school cross country team is a cult. Feels good to finally get that off my chest. It’s been speculated since the beginning, but only in this past year did any of us feel it was time to come clean. So here I am, confessing in full to you, the previously unknown story of our cult.

Basic background information: we attend meetings daily, have a secret language, a private communication network, and more secrets than I care to admit. We also drink the same drink, dress identically and rub rocks with our thumbs for good luck. It's totally normal I swear. Now that you know the basics, let's get into the nitty gritty: the secrets, and of course the scandals.

Starting with the secrets. We wear identical “santa suits” which allow us to run faster. Plain and simple. No debate here. Matching outfits make you faster. We drink the magic juice Co ach Charlie makes us drink to make us run faster. Plain and simple. No debate here. Magic Juice makes you faster. We snort electrolytes. Plain and simple. No debate here. Snorting electrolytes makes you faster. We attend the church of Monday long run, not to be confused with the more common church of Sunday long run. Plain and simple. No d ebate here long runs on Monday make you faster. We have two books full of secrets. One was created by current cult captain, Wessal Esber, and the other by myself. One about the season, the other about CIF, both about pain and procedures. The secrets kept most on the downlow however, are those that are passed on via email. Yes, Coach Reeves does send 3 page emails, and yes he does get upset if we don't have every word m emorized. These emails offer inspiration and words to live by courtesy of the leader of the sport we worship.

The cult movement has been expanding as of late and we now have a multitude of sites to interact with other cult sectors. It's kind of awesome not gonna lie. Personally I have developed friendships with cult members across the state, and last year I was even lucky enough to attend a cult camp to strengthen my dedication to the group.

Now to the scandals. Between bra-gate and the PDA epidemic of 2014, our team has played host to many a scandal. Back in 2015 cult dress was different; cult dress allowed allowed members to trot around sans shirt or in just a sports bra until bra-gate. Now while I would like to dispel the rumors about the whole ordeal that were spread by students here, I feel it's not worth the time or the energy because the whole ordeal was stupid anyway. As for the pda thing, lets just say thanks to a few *wonderful* athletes we now have to travel on gender specific busses.

I hope this has provided you all with a bit more information on my beloved cult, and for those of you who are members, DO YOUR STINKIN LOG!

In all seriousness I love cross country and all that it has allowed me to do.