Monday Funnies From Cross Country Trails
And Lessons We Can Learn From Them
Switching up the usual Monday morning motivational this week and adding a little laughter. Also, be sure to check your email tomorrow for Tune-Up Tuesday’s first Q&A guest of the season!
A couple of weeks ago, our cross country team competed in their first 5K race of the season at the Elk Run XXIV in Burleson, Texas. They were competitive and displayed incredible grit and growth as multiple divisions of our girl's teams won the meet on a challenging course. The team chemistry is starting to gel as the team believes in themselves and one another as the season progresses.
But throughout the multiple races of the day, there was authentic entertainment from other runners on the course. I don't know many people who could write this Hollywood-level comedy without inspiration, like our coaches observed at this meet.
Cinderella-man and Prince Charming
At the two-mile mark, one of our assistant coaches sifted through the sea of runners, recording their times, when something caught his eye. A kid lost a shoe mid-stride, but instead of turning back for it, they kept running, determined to finish the race one-shoed like a modern-day competitive Cinderella.
About 100 meters behind, another runner spots the abandoned shoe, and instead of ignoring it like all the other competitors in the race, they pick it up, sprint all the way up to the shoeless runner, and hand the shoe to them. But instead of just running with the shoeless runner, the shoe-delivery boy slowed back down until he was back in his original position—in the back of the pack.
Lesson 1:Â Stop Being Nice and Compete! Sometimes, you must focus on your race and leave the shoe-delivery business to someone else. There's nothing wrong with serving others, but sometimes, we go so far out of our way for others that we forget our race. Instead of improving ourselves to serve others better, we fail to press into our limitations and withhold others from the greatness we genuinely obtain.
Am I There Yet?
Again, at the 2-mile mark of the JV girls 5K, our assistant coach is sifting through athletes with his eyes, trying to find our athletes to record their times. As he's searching, an athlete comes to a dead stop to get his attention.
"Excuse me," she says with an exhausted look of desperation painted on her face. "How much longer do I have left," she asks, standing at the "Mile 2" sign directly in front of her.
Lesson 2: Don't give too much attention to the pain of where you're at. Remain steadfast in your mission. Read the signs along your journey or race, and focus on the joy of where you will finish. Sometimes, we concern ourselves with how much longer the race is or how long we have to wait for a promise that we will delay and stifle our progress in how the journey prepares us for our destination. So maybe keep your eyes open for apparent signs—literally and figuratively—and run your race this week with 100% focus, intention, and effort.
Dialing it in, Running on Empty
Finally, we arrive at the most baffling moment of the day. Picture this: It's the developmental girls' 2-mile race, and our head coach is at the starting line, watching the athletes take off. About 100 meters into the race, one runner, already struggling to stay with the pack, suddenly slows down, turns around, and runs back for something that fell out of her uniform. Our head coach squints to see what she's running back for.
What is it? A shoe? No, we've seen that already today. A baton? Not a relay.Â
Her phone.
But here's the kicker—she doesn't just pick it up, pocket it, or hold it for the race. No. She picks up her phone and chucks it to the nearest person she sees—a random teenage boy, who, understandably, is holding someone else's phone like it just fell from the sky. Fortunately, her teammates saw what happened and retrieved it for her.
Lesson 3: Don't run a competitive race with your phone in your pocket. But seriously, preparation is critical. Before you start your race, let go of unnecessary things—drama, stress, stuff—that aren't helping you compete to be your best today. If you're too busy juggling distractions—like a phone in a race—you'll fall behind before you even start. Today is about becoming better than you were yesterday. But, if you're too bogged down with non-essentials for today's race—bad habits, laziness, distractions—you'll be off to a terrible start, and catching up will feel insurmountable.