Marking time

I think I have posted this before (with more than 1,200 posts, that’s gonna happen) but it is worth repeating here. As coaches in our sport, we have a tendency to mark time not by days and months and years but rather by track/cross country seasons.

This thought came to mind as I was out at Arlington High School on Thursday night for the first day of the Section 1 State Qualifying meet. I saw many of our Marist Running alums who are now high school coaches. One of them announced that he and his wife were expecting their third child. When’s the baby due, I asked the young coach? His reply? Midway through cross country season. We all chuckled, but I knew exactly what he was saying. A due date, an actual date, was not necessary. I know when the baby’s coming: Probably a week or two before his team’s conference championship.

The next day, I was having lunch with good pal and Coach Emeritus Phil Kelly. He mentioned that his oldest grandchild was entering high school in the fall. Yes. Of course. She was born on the weekend of the MAAC Outdoor meet in 1998, meaning she is 14 years old now. That’s how I remember it; that’s how he remembers it. That’s how we mark time, which continues to fly by like the seasons that we coach.