The essence of the track series

“Mama! A hawk!”

The Mid-Hudson Road Runners Club Twilight Track Series has always been about the kids. Never was that more relevant and prominent on Friday night out at Arlington High School for Week 2 of the four-week series.

Our family (specifically, our children) grew up going to the track series on July Friday nights of their youth. My daughter Natalie’s birthday (July 25) fell on a track series Friday more than once. MHRRC Founding Mother Linda Stow, who has been recording track series results on her trusty clipboard for several generations now, reminded me of this!

Now that our children are grown and adulting in various locales near and far, showing up at the track series – for me -- is surreal. All these children, all these families, going through similar experiences. They would have no idea what I know now: How fast it all goes, and how ephemeral time becomes when raising a family.

So many kids! So great to see!

As I was handing out third-place ribbons for the children’s dash races, there was a hilarious moment that brought me back years in my mind’s eye, a seeming blink of an eye that was in fact more than a decade ago.

During one of the kids’ dash races, a toddler – a young boy, maybe three years old – ambled his way down the track in the 40-yard “dash.” He was, more or less, making his way toward the finish line. Randomly, out in lane 7, he stopped dead in his tracks and looked up at the sky, transfixed by an airplane soaring overhead. Once the airplane was out of sight and sound of the track, he snapped back to the task at hand, meandering his way to the finish line and that coveted finishers’ ribbon!

My internal flashback was to a summer about 15 years ago, not at the track series but rather at the wedding of two dear friends up in Maine, an outdoor nuptial in a beautiful setting. At one point, during the ceremony, it got quiet as the officiant asked us to remember the dearly departed family members. Our young son, all of 5 at the time, looks up to the sky, points, and bellows out: “Mama! A hawk!”

As parents, of course, we were mortified at this development. However, as time has gone by, this story has become a family legend, as well as a cherished memory of Kirk and Liza’s long-ago wedding.

So, too, did the airplane-loving youngster who darted his eyes skyward at the track series on Friday night, bring me back in time. The track is the same, the mood is the same, the faces of the long-time finish line volunteers are mostly the same. The cast of children, parents and grandparents has changed. Such is the nature of traditions like these.

Thanks to Jamie and Jackie Stroffolino for taking on the task of keeping the track series tradition alive and well. They are wonderful meet directors, perfect caretakers of this fine tradition.

Next week, as noted in a previous post, they will be away in Vermont as Jamie toes the line at the Vermont 100-mile trail ultra. As a result, there will be a slightly more pressing need for volunteers. Please consider stopping by and helping out. In the process, prepare to be uplifted and energized by the boys and girls who are learning to love running – just like our children and generations of others did long ago.