Some people create with words or with music or with a brush and paints.
I like to make something beautiful when I run...
-Steve Prefontaine-
I have not been a part of a team since 1999. But I am now. One month into the season and I'm certain of only one thing: something put me here; I did not choose it. I was drawn by something greater than mentorship; greater than my own sense of belonging; greater than a charitable environment and the appeal of a truly athletic organization; truly, I was drawn to the idea of how beautiful a team can be if it's done right. And as far as I could tell, no one was doing it better in this city than Students Run Philly Style. It is in this way, perhaps the most profound way, that this organization has re-prioritized me and set my feet back firmly on the ground moving in a completely new direction.
And so I sit and plan practices. I make homemade Lara Bars and send the recipes home to parents. I review a nine month training program and swallow my own fear. I listen to concerns and show appreciation and praise where it is due. I lend support. I show up Mondays and Wednesdays at 3:15 in a schoolyard and Saturday mornings down by Boathouse Row. I stretch in a circle, counting to ten on the left and then again on the right. I recite RICE to anyone with an injury. I make announcements and listen to others. We discuss a route and then shout it out together: "Left Queen, Left Front, Left Spruce, Left Sixth!" My voice no longer stands alone. And as we conclude each run, hands in the middle, one on top of the other, all in - "Go Meredith," my mind finds the reaction of the first person I told about my acceptance as a Leader this season and I smile, agreeing, "...these are the experiences that form and shape the person you will become."
There is something beautiful right there, in the conclusion of those early practices - in those early miles, created by a team spirit embracing an individual sport. The beauty is in one of the fastest boys on the team doubling back to run in with the slowest that day; the grace is in the changing strides of the younger kids; the confidence is in straightening backs, relaxed shoulders and lightly falling feet; the courage is getting out of the car when you don't know for a fact you can finish a run; the effort is going farther than the practice before; and the respect is for the team as a single, functioning unit.
It is because running re-purposed my life, that I found this place. And it is because I found this place, that I am able to see that beautiful is not always conventional. And so I'll run on knowing that sometimes just showing up and caring creates the something beautiful that I would like to leave behind.
And so I sit and plan practices. I make homemade Lara Bars and send the recipes home to parents. I review a nine month training program and swallow my own fear. I listen to concerns and show appreciation and praise where it is due. I lend support. I show up Mondays and Wednesdays at 3:15 in a schoolyard and Saturday mornings down by Boathouse Row. I stretch in a circle, counting to ten on the left and then again on the right. I recite RICE to anyone with an injury. I make announcements and listen to others. We discuss a route and then shout it out together: "Left Queen, Left Front, Left Spruce, Left Sixth!" My voice no longer stands alone. And as we conclude each run, hands in the middle, one on top of the other, all in - "Go Meredith," my mind finds the reaction of the first person I told about my acceptance as a Leader this season and I smile, agreeing, "...these are the experiences that form and shape the person you will become."
There is something beautiful right there, in the conclusion of those early practices - in those early miles, created by a team spirit embracing an individual sport. The beauty is in one of the fastest boys on the team doubling back to run in with the slowest that day; the grace is in the changing strides of the younger kids; the confidence is in straightening backs, relaxed shoulders and lightly falling feet; the courage is getting out of the car when you don't know for a fact you can finish a run; the effort is going farther than the practice before; and the respect is for the team as a single, functioning unit.
It is because running re-purposed my life, that I found this place. And it is because I found this place, that I am able to see that beautiful is not always conventional. And so I'll run on knowing that sometimes just showing up and caring creates the something beautiful that I would like to leave behind.
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