I'm having trouble writing about track and cross country as if it were important these days. I'm not alone. Most sports writers are having the same problems writing about their sports. If you're human, you can't avoid it.

The sobering events of the past few weeks have changed us because we're human. We try to move on, but we've left something behind. And we can't go back and get it.

To try to write about track as if nothing has happened is impossible. Changing the subject isn't an option. We've seen endless replays of the tragedy that touched us all. In addition, the running world has had its own tragedies.

This week, Paul Cummings, one of America's finest milers ever, drowned. He was fishing, something he absolutely loved, and he died. I can't make sense of that. I didn't know him personally, but he was well-regarded. He was a family man. He was one of us.

The day before, eight cross country runners from the University of Wyoming were killed when their van was hit by a driver whom police say might have been drinking. These were all young men who looked for much in the future, but who won't be there. The collision could have happened anywhere. This is cross country season. I doubt there is a team in the nation where the runners haven't considered that it could have been them.

We're all feeling horribly mortal these days. Ever since the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, we realize more clearly what we have always known but live in constant denial of: We have no guarantees.

The coaches I know have been feeling this and teaching it. The athletes grasp the idea intuitively. This sport we love, it's just for fun. For diversion. For learning how to challenge ourselves. For learning how to work hard to attain something. For learning that there is more inside our hearts than we imagined.

We take these lessons away with us and we use what we have learned to do a better job on the important things in life.

Tomorrow, the team that I help coach races one of the state's powerhouses. Though this will be an uphill struggle, there will be no locker room talk about rising to the occasion to pull off a miracle for the glory of the school. There may still be miracles in this world, but I can't imagine what their purpose would be in sports. They're needed elsewhere. As I will tell my athletes tomorrow, it's just a race. Learn something from it and move on.

The latest news
The fall marathon season is coming fast. The New York City Marathon will continue as planned on Nov. 4. Says director Allan Steinfeld, "This will be our way to show the world and show the terrorists we won't be stopped." The course, which does not go near the site of the attack, will remain the same.

The Chicago Marathon will be the largest of the season, at 37,000 runners, set for Oct. 7. Directors are talking with public safety officials to try to ensure a safe event. The Detroit Marathon, meanwhile, will change routes to avoid its traditional crossing of the border with Canada.

This weekend, the typically fast races in Berlin and Paris will take place. The Berlin organizers have set up a fund to aid the families of firefighters and police who lost their lives in the attacks.

Cancellations of many events affected the cross country season in the United States. Fittingly, however, the Great American Cross Country Festival went on as planned last weekend in Rock Hill, S.C. Nearly 700 high school teams competed in the mega-event. An accompanying college race saw freshman Alan Webb score his first win in a Michigan jersey.

Original plans for the event had the college events taking place under lights, but organizers had to move the event up an hour when the Army, from whom the lights were to be borrowed, indicated it needed them. I can't imagine that anyone complained.

Jeff Hollobaugh, former managing editor of Track and Field News, is a regular contributor to ESPN.com. He can be reached by e-mail at michtrack@aol.com.