The family. We were a strange little band of characters trudging through life sharing diseases and toothpaste, coveting one another's desserts, hiding shampoo, borrowing money, locking each other out of our rooms, inflicting pain and kissing to heal it in the same instant, loving, laughing, defending, and trying to figure out the common thread that bound us all together. ~Erma Bombeck

While I’ll never lose the family I left back home in Dallas, ever since I stepped on campus here in UT, I’ve become a part of a completely new one. Yeah, none of us are related, we don’t share the same blood, we didn’t grow up together, and we can’t share crazy stories about what Dad did in the past. But yet we hold just about every characteristic of a family that you could think of. We eat together, we get in trouble together, we travel together, some of us sleep together, we basically hold a family business, we share a father, we share a home, and we share a passion. The latter of the group being the thing that may bring us even closer to each other than your normal family. And that’s expected because cross country teams aren’t your typical groups that normality derives from and certainly not the one that I consider myself lucky to be able to call myself a part of. Every individual of this Longhorn team brings something different to the family; a different kind of lifestyle that is interesting to learn and of course a bit of drama that always keeps life enjoyable. And with the team, the drama isn’t your usual bickering back and forth and fellow back stabbing. It’s things like our pink flamingos, Sandy and Petey Pablo, that come along on trips or it’s the way BRD (Brian Rhodes Devey for those who don’t know... shame on you if you don’t) can literally make any situation funny with his witty stand up. Our "drama" is what you would expect to find on TV where in the end everything turns out ok or its just hilarious all the way through. However, it’s hardly ever capped with a moral or a life lesson, except when coach took us to a target on the night after the Wisconsin meet and we received a lecture about how tubs of ice cream won’t help us with our team goals... or individual health for the matter.

It’s certainly the small things that make this family a lot more interesting than most and I’m not sure a day has passed where I haven’t had a good laugh. Even when the time spent together is for a brief moment at a team meeting; something always happens. And of course not everything is fun and games. The part of this family that brings us even closer is that before most other households are up and going, we’ve already suffered together, lost body fluids together, and probably talked about something inappropriate yet still in a mature fashion. A families’ dinner time or weekly game night is our workout. It’s what brings us the closest... why else are we all at UT? I certainly didn’t get to become a longhorn because of my stellar grades. And I know that any guy on this team has my back, just like they can trust that I will have theirs. Of course, if they get in a fight, they probably shouldn’t expect me as an individual to help protect them as one punch from anything weighing more than 140 pounds will knock me over, but just think of about 16 of us coming at you. That’s how it feels on the race course. When a group of us toe the line, you better believe that all of us will fight to the end for each other and that doesn’t change at all this weekend for nationals. Were a family to the end and no matter if the final result is a low or a high we'll be on each other’s sides. We celebrate and suffer together, we go to war for each other, and respect one another to the fullest extent.

It will be hard knowing that this is the last dance for two of our teammates this weekend, or I guess... two members of the family. But it’s not the end of us and in fact only a beginning. Were a building team and a growing family that has a lot to prove over the years to come and I can’t wait to look back and think of everything we will have gone through.

This is our weekend, we know who we run for and were afraid of nothing.

Thanks for everything guys,
Craig



Also, good luck to everyone racing this next Monday! This is truly the greatest sport there is and the only sport that brings out a true national champion as we all get to compete against each other on the same day, same course, and with the same conditions! God Bless and safe travel!