The season ended too soon, especially for Ellen

By Tom Atwood

Editor's note: This is Senior Week at Photo of the Day, a week of photos and essays featuring senior runners at EHS.

I remember when my daughter Ellen won her first cross country race. She was in sixth grade, just 11 years old. Six years ago, but it seems like yesterday we were in Jacksonville on the grounds of the old State Hospital when Ellen came around the turn just past the one-mile mark in the lead for the first time in her life. She wasn't sure where to go, but found her way to the finish line and 1st place. Her last race that year was the IESA State Meet at Maxwell Park in Normal, the same course where the season ended Saturday for the Tiger girls, who placed sixth at sectionals.

It was a disappointing end for Coach Steve Chapman and the varsity girls after a great year. But for Ellen, the disappointment came weeks ago when soreness in her shin turned out to be a stress fracture. Her season, and her cross-country career, ended early. I was with her at Anderson Hospital during the bone scan. The technician said bone scans were the best way to detect a stress fracture, so easy that a 5-year-old could see it. When I saw the bright white spot glowing below her right knee, I knew she would not run cross country again at EHS. Her dream of running at the state meet as a senior with her teammates, some who ran with her at state in middle school, had ended. For the rest of the team, that dream also ended Saturday in the mud at Maxwell Park.

So what does that mean, really? That the season was a disappointment? Not to me. After watching cross country for 8 years now, I am convinced that the sport is not always about results. It is not even about performance. Instead, above all else, cross country is simply about not giving up. Perseverance. Doing what you can, even if all you can do is hobble around a course, with an injured leg, cheering for the rest of the team, from the first runner on varsity, to the last runner in the open.

Ellen stopped running, but she did not quit. She was disappointed, but did not complain. Her season was a tremendous success, in my opinion. This season, like every season, Ellen did what a good cross-country runner always does: she did what she could. And I am proud of her.