Can you believe it has been four years.

Can you believe that it has been four years already, or three years already, or even one season already. Time certainly has a way of going by quickly right before your eyes, but back to the basic question. Do you believe?

If you didn’t believe it was possible, one would question why are you doing what you are doing then. Eventually you will reach a point where you have to show up. You train. For some months, for some seasons, and even for some years. For that one shot. That one opportunity and at that moment you want all the preparation that you have done to pay off. If it doesn’t, does that make it not worth it? Why do we run? This question has been asked of me far too many times. It is the entire fight that makes it worth it. Whether like some whose season ended today, or those whose season will end at Sectionals, it is the entire fight that one must look at. Yet at Sectionals, we know what must be done to get an opportunity to compete at the State Championship Meet. So now two days out we rest. We rest in knowing that we have stuck to the plan and have done all that was required. We go to the line knowing that it will take all of us to make this happen. The team has not qualified for the state meet since 2012 and now you ladies have the opportunity to get there.

For those whose season is now over. Thank you for the hard work that you have put in this year. Hopefully some of you now have a better understanding of what cross country is and possibly have a love for a sport that is completely unlike any other. Ending the season with a lifetime pr is often hard to do, yet today some of you did that. Ending the season with the fastest time you have ever run at Rowan, could equally be as hard, yet almost everyone did. The bottom line is many of you believed you could do something beyond your reach this year, and you have.

I said last week that individually you are but a drop. Yet together you are an ocean. What does a drop of water do to a beach? Not much, but an ocean can move beaches, for its power often can not be stopped. So we rest knowing that we are ready, and at 12:05 on Saturday, you will undergo pain that is temporary to unite as a team and accomplish that which many at the start of the season would have thought impossible.