“I started cross country in seventh grade. My mom had a family friend who ran at Central when she was in high school [and] recommended I do it. I never did anything competitive when I was little, so [my mom] was like, ‘okay, we’ll have you do cross country.’ I was like, ‘absolutely not. I don’t want to do it,’ [but] I ended up doing it because a lot of my middle school friends were doing it, [so] It was kind of a way for me to spend time with my friends.
[When] COVID-19 happened, I had nothing to do really. And so one of the things that I really found comfort in was running. My really good friend and I would go every single day and [run] at least a couple miles every day. It kept both of us motivated, but also healthy even though the lockdown was happening.
And now in high school, I’m the only hijabi person on the team, but it’s a super welcoming and supportive team. I’ve had a lot of fun because everyone on the team is so, so nice.
I didn’t [wear a Hijab] during freshman year. I started this summer of my sophomore year, and I remember it [being] super weird. I was like, ‘this is going to be such a hard transition; I don’t know how to do this.’ But then it worked out. Honestly, I just had faith. This is my belief. This is what I believe is important.
You can also run no matter what you wear. All you have to do is have the right shoes and a watch. There are some days where we have 90 degree weather, so it’s a little bit hotter than [I’d] be comfortable with. But luckily, I’m a very healthy person, so I’ve had a great time just doing what everyone else is doing and also being able to represent an entire community.
I’ve had some really good opportunities come out of it too. During meets, I’ve been able to help other hijabi girls from other schools who maybe just started, or maybe aren’t sure what to expect, because I’ve been doing this for three years now. I’ve had girls from other sports at Central reach out to me asking questions about what kind of hijabs I wear and what I use to work out.
The cool thing about cross country is [that] everyone’s an equal. Even if you’re the top, fastest person on the team, or you’re someone who’s not as fast, we’re all doing the same thing. Everyone works out together. We all warm up together. And there’s a lot of cool team culture that I think a lot of other sports don’t have. For me, that’s really, really cool.”
