My Cross Country Runner; Scholar Athlete Sean Adam Jones

Here's the speech my son made at their final cross country banquet... With full permission:

Running, one might say, is basically an absurd pastime upon which we exhaust ourselves. But if you can find meaning in the type of running you need to do ... chances are, you'll be able to find meaning in that other absurd pastime - LIFE. - Bill Bowerman said this and this is exactly what we did.

For the past four years of my life and my high school career I have run side by side with some of the most courageous people I have ever met. Fighting through injury, adversity and all odds, to accomplish the impossible, to accomplish what we believed in; running at a state meet, running with the best of the best, running beside champions.

No other group can claim to have accomplished what we accomplished together. Not only coming up from the jaws of defeat to claim our status as state qualifiers but also to have run with champions. No other group can claim to have raised almost one thousand dollars per person to accomplish the goal of running with champions; to have gone to the land of legends and run on the very same track that the champion of our dreams ran upon.

No one else can lay claim to the friendships that grew stronger everyday within this team, this family, which I have watched grow stronger everyday for four years. For four years I have observed the changes within the people of this family and for four years I have watched the bonds that hold us together grow. Some have come and gone trying their hands at this absurd pastime and only the strong remain.

Not the best but the strong, those willing to be the worst just to be part of this family and part of this way of life. Those willing to go to practice rain and shine, night and day to do what they love. This family extends beyond running though; its bonds and friendships bend and shape there way into every form of our other absurd pastime.

Our lives beyond running, our lives in which everyday we struggle with other forms of adversity. But everyday after those adversities have run their course, what’s left is running, and this family. This journey has brought us in every direction, through highs and lows. Through failure and through success.  But the strange fact remains that that no matter how terrible each race may be, or how great each personal record may be, as long as we remain ourselves, part of this family and true to this absurd pastime we remain the victors.

For four years I have waited in apprehension for this day, when I must say goodbye to my family. Goodbye to those courageous people I have trained with, shared pain with, sweat with, wept with and lived with. Today I came to bid you farewell but I find that an impossible course of action, because as long as I live you will all be with me. As long as I run you will always be by my side pushing me to the best of my abilities. This absurd pastime has brought us together and I am proud to call you all family. Brothers and sisters I challenge you to find meaning in the absurd pastimes we all share, running and life.

Oh and coach we all love you.