Risin’ Up …

When us Hughes boys were growing up, we were all involved in Cross Country.  It was a passion for us and of course, our parents made sure to encourage that.  It was probably better than us getting into trouble.

Whenever we had meets that were close by and held in the morning, Dad made sure to rouse our lazy asses out of bed by blasting ‘Eye of the Tiger’ over the stereo.  Annoyed us all to hell.  Seriously, as if it wasn’t bad enough to get up early on a cold, quite often drizzling Saturday morning.

“Dad!  That ain’t cool!”

God, it was embarrassing.  We’d tell our friends about it.  They’d agree.  Some of their parents did the same.  Maybe it was a conspiracy.  The last time I heard the song was my Senior year of High School, right before the cross country meet at Platteville, WI.  That morning, on only three hours of sleep and with it raining on a hard, hilly course, I set a personal best and placed in the top 5.

This morning, while working out and listening to Pandora, the song selection switched and I heard those familiar chords from the 80s.  And I’ll be damned if I didn’t start working out a little harder.

Maybe the old guy was onto something.