~:[CH10 - Day 156]:~ The Extra Mile

 
~:[CH10 - Day 156]:~ The Extra Mile

It was already tough knowing we'd had to make our way out to Moorpark, but as the weather heated up, it made it even tougher. However, not much bothered me on the day. In some cases, sure I wished for better performances, in other cases, we celebrated success and PRs. While we didn't place well, in many aspects, I consider this season to be one of many successes. With the largest team on campus, having practice every day with the group was simply not feasible, distance practice was easier when they could meet and run on their own in their group without as many restrictions, and just trying to get everything aligned to work within this schedule just added the additional wrinkle. However, we had athlete who took on the fatigue of multiple sports just to do everything they wanted to do, we had athletes who we kept trying to sneak in an extra practice here and there, others who worked even harder when we weren't meeting, and just a group who took advantage of the opportunity. In some areas, we progressed further than we had anticipated, and while we were behind in some performances, they were working hard to try to catch up. I constantly saw athletes going the extra mile just to make the most of this. We didn't have much money this year, but after all this group has been through and how hard they worked, we still were able to get them their lunch and patches as we normally do. While some had other events they had to go to, the group I took home seemed to enjoy each other's company one last time. Sadly, there are a lot of seniors in this group. I am sad that they are leaving and this was the way their last season went, but was also glad that they had all that they had, including CIF. In a perfect world, this would never happen, but in actuality this became an even more perfect situation as they were dealt with a challenge and faced the adversity and went the extra mile. They performed better in league than we had before and pushed hard through the very end. I saw athletes who challenged even if they weren't ranked high in their heat, I saw the sense of joy with a few breakout performances, and even an athlete who quickly picked himself up after getting tripped during his race, getting back into the race. There is a lot we wish we could change, but at the same time, I think this group has become stronger because of all the adversity they faced and handled well. Not everyone has fared so well in these challenging times, but I've been lucky to be around such a large group of individuals who continued to thrive and continued to succeed. To my athletes who made drastic changes since their first years in track, to those who stepped up as leaders and "coaches" when guidance was needed, and to the countless volunteers that stepped up when we had gaps to fill, I am grateful and I thank you. As stressful as these times are to be a teacher and coach, it made it a lot easier to see great things happening around me and so many around me going the extra mile, pushing me to do the same. In life we often are presented with these challenges and I hope we can see that whether or not we get to where we want or not, simply going the extra mile is where our success begins.