Yesterday was the official kick off of cross country meets...and I love this sport! I remember my mom telling me that she always enjoyed watching my uncle run in his meets. My dad ran too, although he did it mostly just to stay in shape for track. Anyway, we had to venture to just outside of downtown Cincinnati for yesterday's meet...during Cincinnati rush hour traffic. YIKES! So grateful for my fabulous husband who doesn't mind driving in that nearly as much as I do! We were able to see both kids prior to running and then figured out our plan for watching the race (sometimes we just plant ourselves at the start/finish line, but since this one had different spots we decided to become more "mobile" spectators). Junior high girls ran right before high school boys, so Robert wasn't able to watch Catherine run. Probably just as well...he is pretty critical of her. Honestly, we've all been a little critical of Catherine's effort, or lack thereof, when it comes to her training. She started off strong yesterday though, and I thought perhaps she was going to surprise us.
About half way through though, she stopped running. In fact, I became concerned that she might have collapsed somewhere on the course because the last group of runners had passed and she was nowhere to be seen. Eventually she came into view again, and anytime she would pass us, she started running again, although I could tell she had a pained expression on her face. At about the last half mile mark, she was completely left behind and walking with her hand on her side. I ran to meet her, and told her we were going to finish the race together. Now, anyone who knows me know that I absolutely HATE to run...I would pretty much prefer almost any medical procedure to running...just HATE it. But my daughter was struggling, and she was going to finish this race. I'll be honest, inside my head I had my doubts as to whether or not I could even do it with her because I'm not exactly in running shape. When she saw me running though, I saw Catherine set her jaw and begin to run alongside me. Tears began to form in her eyes from the side cramp, but she kept running with me, and I actually kept running too, somehow! She finished in just over 27 minutes, almost double the winning time...but most importantly, she finished.
One of the things I love about cross country is that no matter where you finish or how long it takes, teammates are along the "tunnel" at the finish to cheer you. That was true in Catherine's case as well. I remember looking up and seeing a teammate, Jenna, who is going to be a star in cross country someday, cheering on Catherine and reminding her she was almost done and to finish strong. It meant a lot to Catherine that she was still being cheered on at the end, and she took that lesson to heart. During the high school boys race, she positioned herself near the finish line and she cheered on and clapped for every single runner, even those that finished long, long after the others, as he headed down to the finish line.
Robert's race was much less dramatic and eventful. After his success during track season, we had anticipated that a strong cross country season. He ran 14:27, which was a PR for him in two miles. I have to remember though, that he is now running against kids who are three years older than him, so the fact that someone finished in 11 minutes shouldn't be a shock. This was a two-miler warm up race and most of his races will be three miles this year. I have no doubt that he will continue to improve as the season goes along, and Catherine certainly has plenty of room for improvement as well!
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