The 2014 Region Poem

In keeping with tradition, the meet motivation for the Region Championships is a poem.  And as usual it contains all the little nuances and sayings that marked the season, the inside jokes, the references, and even the tone of the group.  I could go on and on about how this team has impacted me, but it would never do it justice.  So I feel like I'm just kind of throwing this out there knowing no one will really get it if they weren't part of the family. Nevertheless, here it is:

Family

                  One year ago, I formulated what would be our story:

                  Dreams of domination and state-championship glory.

                  Starting with the summer; it had to be different:

                  250 miles was my new requirement.

                  I threw the number out to my masculine gang

                  But to my pleasant surprise, I had girls that could hang.

                  So then I upped my rigor and altered my workout ranks

                  What used to be level tens were now easy eights.

                  I even dished out tasks that I doubted would be met.

                  But you would just puff out your chests and say: ..‘Bet!’

                  What I was requiring was a new breed of too-much;

                  I was trying so hard to make it about a State meet, won on guts.

                  But what you guys decided to make it was so much more ‘clutch.

                  You, my rebels, you usurped me!!……Wait……….What…….?

                  Yes. And my counter was 400s: so many would I add

                  To make it like death. But you guys fought for your comrades.

                  And that’s really the light that set you apart:

                  It wasn’t records and trophies that you claimed as your heart.

                  When our Captains considered the legacy they’d build

                  A winning team wouldn’t suffice, so they created a Guild!

                  Not just a place where you came to run and work

                  But a place for friends, and laughter, a place to ‘turn up.’

                  This guild would recruit an unlikely manager

                  And help him discover he’s a world-class pacer.

                  They would see past PRs; all here had roles to play

                  And we were all respected for our own ‘Ninja-Way.’

                  This guild took kids that others had rejected

                  And gave them new dads who would always protect them.

                  This was a guild that stuck by you despite your worst mistakes,

                  Forming bonds that would prove impossible to break.

                  A guild that surrounded a Coach when she couldn’t run

                  And fought for her sanity through their ministry of fun,

                  Stuck by her through her darkest, and most defeated hours

                  Taught her that her running-résumé was not the source of her power

                  Most importantly, this guild never put winning above

                  Their most valued precept: their unconditional Love.

                  That love became the secret rule of their own type of alchemy:

                  Like lead into gold: a team turned into a guild, that guild became Family.