Ten Things You See at a Junior High Cross Country Meet

1.  Dogs

I’m not sure why, but there are always dogs on leashes at cross country meets.  Is it because it’s outdoors?  Possibly.  But, then, why don’t you see dogs at football games or soccer games?  I don’t know.  But someone always brings a dog.  I am not opposed to this, as long as the dog in question is well-behaved.  Getting to pet the dogs of total strangers is one of the many perks of attending a cross country meet.

2.  A group of little kids chasing each other

Their big brothers/sisters/cousins are running at the meet.  They don’t care.  They don’t particularly want to be there.  They are bored.  There are broad, open, grassy spaces.  So they chase each other and laugh and fall down and get grass-stained knees.  They pick up handfuls of mown grass and throw it at each other and laugh like maniacs.  At the end of the meet they are convinced that they have just experienced the best outdoor playdate ever.

3.  Boys trying to hit each other with sticks

What is it with boys and sticks?  Where do they even find sticks on a flat, grass course?  Who knows, but find them they do.  First, they just swing the sticks around aimlessly.  Parents warn them to “be careful with that stick!”  They ignore said parents, who then resume their conversations with other adults.  Aimless stick-swinging evolves into swordplay accompanied by kung-fu-like kicking.  Another level of parental warning occurs.  This delightful game ends with one child in tears while another protests, “But I didn’t mean to hit Joey in the eye!”

4.  A kid messing with the flags/rope that edge the course

There is a lot of waiting in a cross country race—at least it seems like a lot if you are five.  You have to stand around next to this rope waiting for something to happen.  If you’re lucky, there are colorful plastic flags attached to the rope.  Lean on the rope—it holds you up!  Continue leaning until the pressure of your body starts to pull the stakes, to which the rope is attached, out of the ground.  A parent tells you to “let go of that rope.”  Comply, until parent looks away and starts talking to his/her neighbor.  Repeat process until the stakes are pulled free or until you are removed from the scene, whichever comes first.

5.  A toddler trying to escape from its minder and bowlegged-sprint onto the course

Everyone is running!  Running is fun!  Especially when you have just learned how to do it!  The moment that no one is holding her is the moment a toddler decides to scoot her drunkenly-staggering but amazingly speedy little body out onto the course.  The parent dodges under/over the rope and grabs the escapee, who howls in protest.  Eventually tiring of trying to contain a tiny Tasmanian-devil-like tornado of fury, the adult sets down the child, who gleefully makes another run for it.

6.  Runners of every shape and size

Junior high kids come in an astounding array of sizes and shapes, from the most petite sixth grader to the eighth-grader who looks like he’s ready for the NBA tryouts.  The unique nature of this sport, in which you compete against yourself as much as you compete against others, and in which you are both an individual and part of a team, and in which everyone—coaches, fans, and your teammates—seems united in encouraging you, means that it attracts both naturally talented runners and kids who wouldn’t otherwise be athletes.  This is amazing and wonderful.  Everyone is welcome, as long as you are trying.  If only all of life were the same.

7.  Someone crying

Running is a surprisingly emotional sport.  Runners cry from pain or exhaustion or elation.  Parents get weepy at the sometimes Herculean efforts being made by these young people who are testing the boundaries of their endurance.  

8.  Fans and runners cheering on runners from other schools

There is a parent (or maybe she’s a coach, I really don’t know) from Edison Middle School who I’ve seen at several meets.  She claps for and cheers on every runner who passes by her.  She eyeballs their uniform and then yells out encouragement:  “Keep it up, Mahomet!”  “Good job, Unity!”  At the last meet of the season, I witnessed a thin boy in a Knights uniform with a wrapped ankle doing the same:  “Keep your pace, you’ve got plenty of time!”  “If you want that medal, you’re going to have to sprint for it—you can do it!”  I can literally count on one hand the number of times I’ve seen a parent yell in a nasty way, and then it was at their own child (not that that makes it OK).  Yes, people encourage their kids to “Catch her!  Pass him up!” but we clap and cheer in admiration for the first runner through, whether they’re ours or not, and for the last runners who are breathlessly straggling in.  It’s competitive, but good sportsmanship reigns.

9.  Two runners who suddenly decide within the last stretch that they are not going to let the other one beat them

This can happen with the leaders, but it also happens with kids in the middle of the pack and even with those trailing towards the end.  They see the finish line and that competitive drive kicks in, and they BRING.  IT.  Those are some of the best moments, even when—or maybe especially when—the winning of the race is not on the line.  

10. Kids trying their hardest and pushing themselves to their limits

This is why I am often the crying person from number 7 (see above).  It is powerful, it is moving to see eleven-, twelve-, and thirteen-year-olds with their junior high bodies, and all the insecurities and confidence issues that go along with that stage, pushing themselves mentally and physically.  It is a beautiful and humbling thing to witness the determination and struggle written across their faces as they propel themselves towards the finish line with every ounce of their heart and soul, with every muscle.  There is something primal and deep about running as hard as you can possibly run that speaks to the cores of those of us watching.  It’s hard not to see a metaphor, sharp and poignant and breath-taking, in the image of an adolescent running full tilt towards her future with everything she’s got.