Practices usually are an hour to a hour and a half yea you practice the whole summer you take the bus to xc meets and good luck with xc I'm also training to run xc after missing last years season Cross country meets can be very fun with friends on the team.
You won't be the slowest trust me! They are usually 1-1:30 hours at my school yes you ride buses unless your hosting the meet they are held by schools and in open areas and places that were made for xc! You also practice most the summer at my school to get in shape and everythibg:).
I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.