…is the when the race is done and the dust settles who is left standing….and who is out doing a cool down with their fellow runners. Cross country is a team sport that requires a lot of individual work, but it is DEFINITELY a team sport. I can’t watch you all as you run in the race tomorrow, but I can watch the course in my mind. Can you do that, look at how you know the race will go? If you don’t know the course I’ll do a quick “run through” of the parts that matter: As you step to the line there is a tuba playing in the background and then drums…the starter raises his arms and the music is gone, it’s time to RACE! You go down a slight incline and then over a little bridge into a little square in the middle of an open field, around and around you go where do you stop? You better know. Then Morton parents cheer, cause you’re in front sir or dear. Then later…it’s a race to show all you’ve got.
But I ask you to question now what you’ll have left right there…it’s no secret you’ll be tired, but so is everyone else. It’s no secret you may want to just stop now…but you won’t. It was never a question of if you had the guts…but the guts to say I CAN do this…I CAN run faster…my limit is not in my legs but in the reach of my will. And then you might look up and to the side, and there they’ll be …the Team…YOUR team. And will they be cheering? Better they will be…and you’ll push a little harder for a little longer, because as a friend of mine once told me: The strength of the wolf is in the pack…and the strength of the PACK is in the wolf. You are the wolf…THEY are your pack. They will NEVER abandon you, they will NEVER ask you to give more than you can handle, but they will ALWAYS ask more of you than THINK can.
Lest anyone now believes that running is a super serious sport for only pain and soreness, I leave you with this: Think about what you know will happen tomorrow again but this time forget the actual race…just for a moment. Think about how you know someone is going to tell a joke on the bus, how JAZ is your coach and he is simply just a sweet dude. Guys you know you’re going to say something stupid and the girls are going to laugh at you. Girls the same to you…the guys will say something stupid and then you’ll laugh at them. Guys I’ve got good news though, the girls may not be around to hear every one of the stupid things you do…so your fellow guys will make sure to keep the whole team posted lest you feel that you miss out on public humiliation.
Good luck Men and Women of Morton…run so that you KNOW you RACED.
Nathan
*note from me. Seeing as how Steve and Dave have each submitted a novel I want to take this moment to say hi. I thank you all for letting us report and live the cross country a little longer through your races. I don’t know all of you as well as I would like so I take this moment to say a few things. First if you didn’t know, I was the Guy’s Captain last year and carrier of the burden of the mean captain (ask anyone on the team last year if you don’t believe me and if you want the real scoop ask the varsity guys from last year ). I proudly ran for Morton for 4 years and loved every second of every run (except when I didn’t… then I hated it). I hope you don’t view me as the super serious Creator, but I do want you to know that cross country is a sport that is fun but also a highly strategic competition of the mind. I hope as you all become more experience runners you learn that, a race is won or lost in the mind. Now that we got through who I am and what I believe in terms of running I feel like you have a little better understanding of who I am. But feel free to comment here about anything and I’ll be sure to respond.*
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