My ambivalent relationship with Mickey Mouse

Last Saturday, our dear friend and longtime Poughkeepsie Journal colleague Sean T. McMann got married in Poughkeepsie. Our whole family was involved, and it was a great weekend of loving fun. Afterwards, Sean and his new bride jetted off for their honeymoon to Disney World in Florida – they are all about the land of Mickey Mouse. I, on the other hand, am not. But alas, as happens every four years, I (and we) will be all about Disney next week, as our MAAC Cross Country Championships are being held down there.

What is it about me and Disney? It has little to do with the running. Well, yes and no. A little insight into my personality: As Sean can very well attest, I am very rarely in a good mood. But (and Sean may not agree with this), I am even more rarely in a bad mood. Basically, I just skim along day-to-day in a neutral sort of fog, usually not too high and not too low. And then, you enter Disney World, where everyone is Happy -- with a capital H. Most of it is genuine, some of it may be contrived, all of it makes me feel a little queasy. Stop smiling so much already!

OK, enough about me and my feelings. Who cares, really? Our athletes really look forward to this trip, and with good reason! They are, after all, still kids at heart, and what better place to be an overgrown kid than at Disney World?

There’s one other issue with the Disney trip, and that is trying to determine our official travel party. This has been the cause of some angst through the years, this year included. Ultimately, it is a good problem to have. We have a lot of hard-working runners. But we have a limited number of spots, for a variety of reasons. As a result, it makes for some challenging choices. Eight years ago, I was forced to make a difficult choice – to this day, it is debatable whether my decision was correct or incorrect. This much is true: That decision hurt feelings, causing fissures in relationships that lasted not weeks but years. Fortunately, the chasms that were formed by the hard feelings have been healed, and the bonds with those involved are now stronger than ever.

This year, it was looking like a repeat performance in the difficult decision department. The final choices came down to athletes who were the best of friends. I racked my brain, tried all sorts of formulas, but the numbers kept coming back to these two guys. Ugh. Fortunately for all involved, another athlete selflessly surrendered his spot on the trip -- out of honestly and genuine kindness. He has had some struggles of late with his running, but his place numbers throughout this season were still sufficient to earn the trip. But, being the saintly and classy individual that he is, he realized that the arc of his training and racing might not have yielded a positive performance down there (side note: I have faith that he can run fast, both in the near and far future!). And so, unwittingly, he helped solve a seemingly unsolvable dilemma by his unselfish act of true kindness. It is a move that I won’t soon forget, and my loyalty to this runner will run deep for a long, long time.

So yeah. Don’t expect me to put on my smiley face and my Mickey Mouse ears next week. Do expect me, and our athletes, to do what we always aim to do when we attend meets: Represent our school and our program to the best of our ability. Smiles notwithstanding.