No homecoming game. No king and queen riding in the back of convertibles. Generally, no cheerleaders, marching bands or public address announcers.
Not to put anyone on the therapist’s couch, but the loneliness of the long distance runner can ring true to a certain extent.
High school cross country meets are generally run in front of gatherings, not crowds.
“This is one day when the light will shine on cross country,” said Dave Barnett, who is co-coach of the boys’ cross country team at Royal Oak High School. Ryan Piippo is the other boys’ coach.
Clyde Ewell is the girls’ cross country coach at Royal Oak High.
Running Day in Royal Oak will be Tuesday. The races will all be held on the Royal Oak High cross country course which starts at the south end of Quickstad Park, located near the intersection of Lexington and Marais.
The afternoon begins with a high school meet matching Royal Oak Shrine Catholic and Royal Oak High. The boys 5k race will begin at 4:30 p.m., with the high school girls starting at 5.
A two-mile middle school race that includes students from Royal Oak, Shrine and Our Lady of La Salette in Berkley will start at 5:30 p.m. A one-mile open race is scheduled for 5:50 p.m., with a Raven Race for youngsters that measures one-quarter mile begins at 6:10 p.m.
Parking will be available in the high school lot on Lexington, the Senior/Community Center on Marais, and the high school student lots which are accessed on Normandy.

This is the second year for Running Day in Royal Oak. Three years ago, Shrine coach Wright Wilson invited Our Lady of La Salette runners and runners from Shrine’s Academy to join the two high schools during a meet at Memorial Park.

The bottom line of Running Day in Royal Oak for the coaches is  they would like to see more kids running.
“I’ve always said the world would be a better place if everyone ran cross country,” said Barnett, smiling. “It’s a great sport and it has done a lot for us individually.”
This country would certainly be better off. Way too many of us can’t jog to the mailbox, let along run hard for 3.1 miles.
Obesity rates are skyrocketing. We’re the fattest group of people this side of a John Candy look-a-like contest. Fannies are spreading like that BP oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico. Bellies are ballooning like the national debt.
“I think Running Day in Royal Oak is a great idea,” said Wilson. “It brings the sports to a larger community than what we’d normally see. In fact, we have several runners who participated in either last year’s Running Day in Royal Oak, or at Memorial Park two years ago who had such a positive experience they are still running.”
Three of them are on his Shrine High team now; Brendan Battle, Conor O’Hara and Daniel Carlin. Two more are younger but are still running in school; Carolyn Luddy and Ellie Kendell.
“They’ve all run the open races; whether it was the junior high two-mile run or the grade school one-mile race. They all had positive experiences. It’s great to see they all wanted to continue running as a sport,” said Wilson.
Way too often, we have turned running into a punishment in our schools. Screw around in gym class and run a couple of laps around the track. Mess up in football practice and do the same.
What happened to the pure joy of running like when we were kids? Race you to Jack’s house! Tearing around the backyard with the family dog in hot pursuit.
“When we had that meet at Memorial Park two years ago, the main attraction was the high school meet. We were hoping to recapture some of those great Royal Oak Kimball-Royal Oak Dondero meets of days gone by,” said Wilson. “Now there is only one public high school in Royal Oak, but there are two pretty good running schools. I love the idea of Running Day in Royal Oak,” said Wilson.
Show up Tuesday afternoon at Quickstad Park. Coach Barnett will thank you. Coach Piippo will thank you. Coach Wilson will thank you.
Someday, your cardiologist will thank you, too.