On Monday, the Holy Family cross country team participated in their yearly penny run. The point of the penny run is to not only create a good team bonding experience but also see how much random stuff we can get by the end of the run.

This year the stakes were a little bit higher. Our coach had told us that whoever won the penny run would get reps off of the hardest workout of the year, The Trial of Miles.

The way it works is that seniors and freshmen group up and sophomores and juniors group up. Each team gets three pennies and 40 minutes. From there, they have to go into neighborhoods and go house to house asking what we can trade for pennies.

In my group was Liv Bertagnolli, MacKenzie McIntosh, Claire Treinen, Garrett Smith, and Joe Brienza. We started in the Broadlands neighborhood. We got rejected a couple times before Joe finally traded a penny for a flashlight and I traded one for a socket wrench. Moving on to the next house Garrett, Kenzie, and Claire had traded our last penny for a bottle of bubbles while Joe, Liv, and I were receiving multiple new items from a nice woman.

For a socket wrench and a flashlight, this woman gave us a brand new board game, size 11 shoes, and Pabst Blue Ribbon beer sign. We had decided to try our luck with one more house. At this house, we ended up getting both a three seat couch and a mini fridge without having to trade anything. After that house we had decided we were going to stick with what we had gotten.

We spent the next half mile carrying everything we had collected up 144th back to the school. Liv, Kenzie, Claire, and I had carried the couch with all the smaller items on top, while Joe and Garrett carried the mini fridge. Needless to say our arms were killing us all. Our group was the first group back but not for long.

Shortly following us were the other teams carrying various other items such as baby toys, strollers, lawnmowers, books, an old IMac, some chocolates, gloves, a hockey stick, a soccer ball, an air fryer, a giant potato peeler, and so much more.

Seeing all the random things we were able to get was a little bit impressive. However in the end, my group reigned victorious. So once I finish my Trial of Miles workout, I will get the opportunity to watch everyone one else continue! I hope this team tradition carries on and next year is just as impressive as this year!