Good day for running



The trails surrounded this lake

This morning, I joined Meaghan for a 10 mile trail run – our last long run before Stonecat.  It was a glorious Fall day, the sky was clear, and there seemed no disturbance could be possible (ahem, unless you consider the impending hurricane Sandy!).  Our run was a huge success in that neither of us fell.  We each did our share of tripping and ankle rolling, but nothing too drastic.  

After our run, we hung out and chatted by our cars.  We lingered a little longer because the kids’ cross country team piqued our interest.  They were a young group, but their coach certainly had them moving.  We found ourselves cheering on the front runners and encouraging the stragglers to finish.   A boy finished first and a girl finished right on his heels for second.  What happened next wasn’t all that dramatic, but it really touched us both.

Finisher 1 and 2 started walking towards the rest of their oncoming team mates.  Each kid, digging deep with faces flush, got a “C’mon, you can do it!” or “Way to go!” from Finisher 1 and 2.  They were so supportive of their team mates and it was such a testament to their sportsmanship and the camaraderie I tend to see with runners.  We also saw one kid arrive late for practice, receive his lecture from the coach, and head off to start his practice – alone.  By the time “late kid” was approaching his finish, I once again heard cheering - the team was cheering him in to his finish.

This might all be very ordinary to some, but I was touched by the scene I witnessed.  We all know that the competitive spirit sometimes brings out the worst in people, but not today and not with these young kids.  Kudos to their parents, their coach, and most importantly, to them.