Christmas ’round here

After all these years, the stop-and-start nature of what we do is still startling. When preseason cross country started in mid-August, it was a mad dash of frenetic, daily activity for more than three months. Daily practices, a few away XC meets, getting the track-only athletes going, recruiting calls, recruiting Zooms, recruiting emails, recruiting visits. The days and weeks go by in a blur during this period. A few days’ break around Thanksgiving, and then we cranked up the machine again for the first few indoor track meets. A side trip to Colorado for much-need reconnection with alums (and, oh yeah, that convention thing). And then? Back home to an empty campus and no practices and no meets for several weeks. Pffft. Just like that, the seemingly constant motion of the late summer and fall has morphed into the stagnation of early winter. Which, of course, will cede into the even more frenetic action of indoor track, which blends right into to outdoor track. It’s difficult to remember to take a breather around this time of year, knowing full well that when we get things going in January, it’ll be four-plus months of daily activity again – practices, track meets featuring endless bus rides and generic hotel rooms, more recruiting (always, always with the recruiting), teaching Public Presentations classes again (oh yeah, that was in the fall as well!)… on and on, the days and weeks will fly by until … until we get to around Memorial Day, and then we pump the brakes and slow back down again into summer mode and a reduction/elimination of daily activities involving our world. After more than three decades of this, and probably a few forgotten blog posts like this one, you’d think I’d get the rhythm of the routine down by now. But every year, it always seems new and fresh. Christmas ’round here looks to be quiet. All the kids will be home (hopefully, pending the crazy upcoming weather and its impact on inbound flights?) and we’ll just do a few day trips to visit family members in New Jersey and Long Island. Otherwise, no major plans. Enjoy each other’s company, recharge the batteries, and plug in and get the engines whirring again for the year that will be labeled 2023. Merry Fitness!