The 2012 Region Poem

Every year I write a poem for my cross country team for the Region Championship meet. I've always loved writing poetry and when I was younger I did all the time.  I have journals full of it from my teen years.  But the older I get and the busier life gets, the less time I have to write.  And so in recent years poems have been few and far between.  Yet every year, around this time, I get inspired.  The poem always tells the story of that season. Every new season has unique themes that emerge and unique events that occur.  Like 2 years ago it was these insane workouts we started doing and realizing how that made us good enough to go to state.  Or last year it was this epic season where we won everything and this group of kids that were just crazy, said crazy things, did crazy things.  You can read those poems here   

I always go back and reread the previous poems about previous seasons before I write the new one.  And I am always struck by how different they are, not just in subject matter, but mostly in the feel of it.  The rhythm of the poem always mimics the feel of that season, of that particular group of kids.  When  I go back and read them I don't just remember the events and the kids, I remember how I felt that year, I get to feel it again.  This is why I love poetry so much.  Some of my runners keep the poems from each year.  I hope it does the same for them, that they will be able to remember how that season of their life felt. That is a gift I want to give them.

We are currently ranked number 1 in the Region.  And we fully expect to win that meet and return to state this year. Here is the 2012 poem:

A Running Dynasty

Just three months ago, Coach was in a state of great distress

For the prospects of this cross country season had her so depressed

See, twenty-eleven was a year most epic, with every meet counting a win

And here twenty-twelve was upon us, and she had this team, made up mostly of freshmen

Now the goal hadn’t changed: we were going to reach the State meet this season…

But Coach had resolved, with a team this young, no way we could be first in the Region

And to make matters worse, injury had struck her oldest, her fastest, her Captain

But little did she know, she had no cause for concern, something miraculous was about to happen

Those new runners showed up ready to work, not lacking in any motivation

No, they weren’t about to let age be an excuse to not uphold this team’s mighty reputation

When they saw marathoning teammates with weekend long runs to do

They said: hey, no problem, we’ll just run 15 miles too

And they had heard about our workouts that forge men out of boys

And they took them on gladly, embraced them with joy

They had focus and drive, they were men on a mission

And it didn’t take long for Coach to find renewed hope and vision

For Running, for challenges, for pain, this rare group had so much affection

And they wanted to add their own hardware to the already impressive collection

So the young team kept on working, trained beyond their years

Trained in sweat, trained in blood, trained in vomit, trained in tears

They subjected themselves to all manner of tortures:

Like Captain’s crazy ab workouts, and getting chased down with rulers

They kept getting stronger and faster, setting high goals, goals they would meet

And soon everyone realized, yet again, Crockett was the team they just couldn’t beat

But what the team doesn’t realize, what’s truly the best part

Is how all these young runners won over their Coach’s heart

How hard for her this year was going to be, they couldn’t have known

Last year she lost 3 beloved seniors, and this year she was losing the one she loved as her own

Those irreplaceable runners, she thought no group was ever going to compare

But oh how wrong she was, now she is fully aware 

That God blessed her again with a talented batch to train like mad and love like crazy

A group that, no doubt, will create the Crockett County Running Dynasty