{"id":7433,"date":"2024-10-22T09:30:55","date_gmt":"2024-10-22T13:30:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/?p=7433"},"modified":"2024-10-22T09:52:26","modified_gmt":"2024-10-22T13:52:26","slug":"a-walk-in-the-woods","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2024\/10\/22\/a-walk-in-the-woods\/","title":{"rendered":"A Walk in the Woods"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

So this is a “Sunday Story”, on a Tuesday. There’s no politics today – just a story about cross country running, and a walk in the woods.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Championship Season<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s October, and for me, a month of officiating cross country meets.   It\u2019s a great month to be out in the \u201cworld\u201d.  The leaves are turning, the temperatures are moderating, and the kids and coaches and crowds are \u201camped\u201d.  October is \u201cchampionship season\u201d in cross country, when all the work, all the miles, all the \u201cblood, sweat and tears\u201d of months and even years of preparation comes to an end.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is no \u201cbye\u201d to the championships in cross country running.  Either you make the place, as a team or individual, or you don\u2019t.  The \u201csubjective\u201d no longer matters; work, talent, sportsmanship, leadership, how fast you ran last week:  those are all great attributes.  But cross country in October is a cold, hard, objective sport.  The top teams and individuals go onto the next meet; the rest don\u2019t.  It\u2019s not even about \u201ctime\u201d, it\u2019s all about place in the race.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stomping Ground <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Cross country doesn\u2019t usually require a whole lot of officials.  To do a track meet in the spring, it requires at least five officials, and often fourteen to cover all the events.  In cross, most meets have three or four.  There are clerks to check-in the runners, starters to fire the gun, and a referee to make final judgments.  Once the gun goes off, the athletes are virtually unsupervised for most races.  But come October there are \u201cumpires\u201d stationed throughout the course, usually every few hundred yards.  So while officiating jobs are hard to come by in September, come October there\u2019s a lot more to do. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So this was my fifth meet in October, and my third meet in a row. Saturday was the High School District meet, and Sunday the Middle School State Invitational. But yesterday I officiated a \u201cjunior varsity\u201d meet at my old stomping grounds, Watkins Memorial High School.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the last meet for these athletes. They didn\u2019t make the top seven varsity positions on their teams. But,  it\u2019s one more opportunity to run, to set a personal best, and to end their cross country season on a high note.   And it\u2019s on the unique running course at Watkins.  Of the three mile race, two miles are run on woods trails.   It\u2019s beautiful:  the leaves are turning, the course is dry and fast, and unlike most cross country courses today that run around athletic fields; competition is in the forest and the pine trees.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Course<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve spent forty-six years helping to prepare those trails for runners.  There\u2019s lots of folks that can claim a \u201cpiece\u201d of Watkins, including years of Watkins cross country teams; coaches and parents who have raked and hauled lumber and gravel and mulch.  For me, my role is now the \u201croots\u201d, carefully painted white to contrast to the dirt floor.   Kids still occasionally trip on the them, but it\u2019s not because the roots were hidden.  \u201cDid you see the root you tripped on?  Why yes, it was painted white, but I tripped anyway,\u201d is a conversation I have on the finish line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So I arrived early at Watkins, to take a walk in the woods before the buses pull in and the \u201cLast Chance, Fast Chance\u201d meet begins.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

My Walk<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

When I was the Dean of Students, the \u201cdiscipline guy\u201d of the high school; there were times when my dual role as Dean and Cross Country Coach intertwined.  While the woods are great for running, and for studying flora and fauna, they are also an attraction for students to do less esoteric activities.  I found kids smoking cigarettes or marijuana. I broke up fights that were planned over lunch in the cafeteria. And I really got mad at the kids who decided that the Watkins trails were a great place to \u201cfour-wheel\u201d and tear things up.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bob Seger wrote a song called \u201cNight Moves\u201d, about sex in high school.  One line is; \u201cOut past the cornfields where the woods got heavy\u2026\u201d.   The Watkins woods are equidistant between the high school and middle school, that\u2019s 2700 \u201chormonally challenged\u201d kids.  It shouldn\u2019t be a surprise that while they probably don\u2019t know Bob Seger or his song, some choose to go \u201cout past the school road where the woods got heavy,\u201d to work on their \u201cNight Moves\u201d, or more literally, their \u201cAfternoon delights\u201d.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wasn\u2019t sneaking around the woods yesterday, I was just taking a walk on the familiar path, letting the fall changes soak in.  With the new high school and new school road, the \u201cback\u201d of the course is a lot more accessible than it used to be.  I ran into a few of the Watkins runners, commuting from the high school to get ready for the race.  Then I made the turn on the back trail, and headed towards the \u201cboards\u201d that were built to get over the swampy area just before the mile-mark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Official-Official<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I saw a young man sitting on a log, smoking a cigarette.  He looked up, aghast that there was some adult approaching his space.  Then I saw a young lady sitting on the dirt at his feet.  At first I just thought they came to enjoy an elicit smoke, and said; \u201cYou\u2019re not my problem, I don\u2019t work here anymore\u201d.  Then I realized, the young lady didn\u2019t have pants on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s still not my problem, not part of my \u201cofficiating contract\u201d, but soon hundreds of kids will be running the course, first checking out the path, then competing in the races.   It\u2019s not the \u201chidden haven\u201d this young couple was looking for.  My suggestion: time for them to get dressed and move along.  They answered in unison, \u201cOh Sh*t\u201d, and I agreed, \u201cOh Sh*t, it\u2019s time for you to go!!\u201d.  Their afternoon delight was over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then I got my officiating gear on, loaded up my starter\u2019s pistol, and went to work.  There were 200 some athletes competing in the \u201cFast Chance\u201d invitational, a girls race and a boys race.  A parent from one of the schools actually thanked me for officiating.  I appreciate that; officiating can have its difficulties and parents can be less than friendly.  But as usual at Watkins, the races went flawlessly.  There was nothing to complain about.  The kids focused on making their last race the best \u2013 and from their expressions at the finish line, many of them did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was a perfect October day for a run in the woods.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Sunday Story Series<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

2021<\/h4>\n\n\n\n