Our First Meet

Our team of three had our first cross-country meet yesterday. We traveled to another local middle school and faced three other teams, one of them being our in-district rival. Since we have such a small team, we actually had to share a bus with the other team--a potentially awkward situation, but the ride was fine.

I wish I would have brought my camera. The three black jerseys in the sea of green and red was quite a sight. When they started one of our kids took the lead and kept going (and going). When the runners circled back to where I was standing, I had to remind him he still had almost two miles left of the two-mile course. He was able to stay with the leaders for most of the race. With less than a half mile to go, I saw him again and cheered him on. As he ran by he simply said, "I'm tired." He was still able to finish with a strong kick (and with a great time good for 5th place).

The other two also had a great race. They paced themselves very well, and still had strong kicks. I've told them before that no matter how hard they run, and no matter how tired they think they are, they will always have something left at the end. And they did.

I am so proud of our boys! They all did so well. So much better than the estimated race times (based on their mile times in practice) that we discussed prior to starting. As we were walking back to the bus, I said to them that with times like they are going to have to work a little harder in practice. They just smiled and said, "Yeah, we know."