May — the month of postseason for high school spring sports and the start of the two summer high school sports in Iowa.
Spring postseasons start Thursday with state qualifying track meets and boys’ district tennis followed by boys’ golf sectionals on Friday. Then it’s away we go.
Baseball practices began Monday, which had to be one of the coldest first days of May ever. This coming Monday softball practices begin. The summer sports seasons begin in a couple of weeks — May 22 and May 23.
It is also the month of horsepower — the Indy 500 is at the end of the month. The horsepower I’m drawn to — it’s Triple Crown time.
On Saturday, the horses will load the starting gate for the Run for the Roses — the Kentucky Derby. Each horse, jockey, owner, and trainer has the opportunity to win the Triple Crown when the gates open Saturday. There are stories to go with each one.
After the race, only one horse, one jockey, one owner and one trainer can go for the Triple Crown. It’s about running your own race whether your talking about horse racing or a person’s life.
I’ve mentioned it before, but I’ll say it again. My all-time favorite race horse is Secretariat, who won the Triple Crown in stunning fashion in 1973. I was like most of the world, I think, at the time awed by his power and charisma.
After all was said and done, Secretariat blew past all-comers to win in big fashion the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes. He ran his own race on his terms.
I recently watched the movie “Secretariat” and loved it. Though I know the race scenes were not really him on the track. Except one — they used the Preakness footage of Secretariat’s win on the family television in the scene.
But what stuck with me was the use of one of my favorite scriptures from the Book of Job. God answered Job:
“Do you give the horse its strength or clothe its neck with a flowing mane? Do you make him leap like a locust, striking terror with his proud snorting? He paused fiercely, rejoicing in his strength and charges into the fray. He laughs at fear, afraid of nothing, He does not shy away from the sword. The quiver rattles against his side, along with the flashing spear and lance. In frenzied excitement he eats up the ground. He cannot stand still when the trumpet sounds.”
Don’t stand still when the trumpet sounds. Move forward, take your opportunities and run your race.
Contact Jocelyn Sheets
at jsheets@newtondailynews.com