“My one regret is that I didn’t start sooner. I bonded with my teammates in a way that I didn’t think I would,” PIHS senior Alec Smith said about his first and final year of cross country. Before, Alec had only experienced occasional trips to Portland, and when he went it wasn’t to have fun and enjoy some of the sites that Portland had to offer. Alec also had the exciting experience of sharing this moment with friends he had bonded with during cross country. At first Alec was nervous about running cross country, but in the end the nervousness wasn’t warranted and Alec had an enjoyable season.

“I had only left The County a handful of times in my life, so Portland seemed like a foreign place to me,” Smith said.

When the team arrived in Portland, they met up at Twin Brooks Recreation Park, where they were going to compete the next day, and practiced. After the run they went to the hotel to clean up and get ready for dinner. They ate at the Portland Pie Company where Alec had a pasta dish by the name of penne marinara. “It was dry, though, and I didn’t like it,” Alec said, but he didn’t mind because it was the first time he had ever been there and he was happy to have the new experience. Then shortly after dinner the team headed to the Maine Mall.  This was the first time Smith had been to a bigger mall than the Bangor Mall and it was quite exciting. Seniors Ian Hoyt-Franz and Jonah Clark walked around the mall with Alec checking out the various stores. Alec and Jonah bought Adidas hoodies at Olympia Sports, at a special “Buy one get one half off” deal. After they went to the mall they headed back to the hotel to rest for the next day.

In the morning, they headed to Higgins Beach before the meet. “I had a lot of fun there, but I was also sad because it was my last year of cross country.” After about an hour at the beach they had to go to the course to warm up and prepare for the race. Even though Alec didn’t do as well as he would have liked, he still enjoyed the experience.

“Regardless of the final race, I wouldn’t have changed my decision to join cross country.”