Hail Mary

My high school career was completed at Chaminade, a Catholic Marianist all-boys school on Long Island. Throughout each fall was our cross-country season, which was basically a trail race. Each race involved a runout from the starting line which was a stride to get your legs in a faster gear for a little bit before the race. However, before the gun was fired, each team would coordinate their stride-out together and circle up about 50 meters from the starting line to share a few words of motivation.



Something that I always loved was that every Catholic High School in our league would use that stride-out to say a prayer before their race, and in our case, it was always a Hail Mary.

These stride-outs are nothing new from a running perspective and were not unique to the Catholic High School Athletic Association (CHSAA). The vast majority of teams across all levels all want to get fired up with a hard sprint and say a few encouraging words to their 7 teammates racing.

When I came to Fordham, a Catholic Jesuit University, we did the same routine. Regardless of what the race was, we would all come together and say a Hail Mary. The amazing part about this occurrence resides in the tradition. Repeating that prayer was never something I started on either team nor was it ever started during my tenure in high school or college. This means that, through my assumption, from the origins of both teams this prayer was said each and every race asking for Mary's intercession. Thus, for decades before me, this tradition was always carried on in the same way, with the same words.



What I cherish in saying the Hail Mary, a prayer that honors Our Lady before a contest resides not in asking for "good luck" and many might think we're just praying for a great race. However, at the core of it, we are praying for Mary's intercession and even if we have a poor race- which is more often than not- we are stronger in our faith because of it.