title: Runner's World Guide to Cross-Training
author:  Matt Fitzgerald 
description: <b>Matt Fitzgerald</b> is a runner, triathlete, and coach. A former editor and current contributor for <i>Triathlete </i>magazine, he writes articles for national publications such as <i>Men's Health, Men's Fitness, Outside, Stuff, Maxim, Fitness Runner</i>, and the <i>Runner's World</i> Web site; and serves as managing editor of the sports nutrition Web site <i>Powering Muscles</i>. He lives in San Diego.
zlib_text: **X-COUNTRY**
  
  by Robert Reed
  
  _Our stories often need to bear “Don’t try this at home” warnings. In this_
  _case, however, we’re happy to encourage readers to take up cross-country_
  _running. But if you find yourself facing a course like the one described in_
  _this story, well, don’t say we didn’t warn you..._
  
  * * * *
  
  The new fellow never talked about himself much, and details came out in little
  dribbles. But he mentioned having once been a teenager in the hill country—a
  stretch of poor farms and limestone bluffs about an hour north of town. He had
  a favorite few tales about running cross-country for the local high school:
  His Phys Ed teacher first saw his potential and egged him into running
  competitively. Without training and with a naturally lousy sense of pace, the
  recruit managed to finish dead last for a desperately weak team. But after
  another year of growth and three thousand miles underfoot, he became a
  powerful Senior. Laughing at his own misfortunes, our new friend claimed