Cross-Country - A Season

He came. He saw. He ran. And then sometimes he felt sick. But then he ran again. The insanity started in August (which is kind of a blur) and ended in October, but Michael successfully finished his first season of cross country. We are so incredibly proud of him for pushing through the rough start of the season (he was recovering from covid-19 and didn't get to do much training beforehand) and for keeping a positive attitude through nausea and shin splints. He made a lot of progress and enthusiastically cheered his teammates on at every meet. In August he emphatically told us he would not do this ever again, but come October we heard a lot about "next year in cross country" and "Ben, you should do cross country with me next year!" I guess than means one season down, who knows how many to go.

Cross Country Week ONE

Run run run run run run run run run!

When asked recently how he was liking cross-country, Michael rather bluntly said, "I hate it. But it's conditioning for swim and track later this year."

It's been a struggle, but he's pushed through the exhaustion and nausea and soreness. He's making great progress and this week he had his first two meets. 

Wednesday - the first meet of the year was on the first day of school. THS was hosting at a local park. I wasn't there but another parent was kind enough to take some pics and post them for everyone.

Saturday - the second meet was at LBA with 20+ schools and it was an overwhelming experience (for me anyway). We learned to get there EARLY if you want to park and these meets are at least a half-day event. 

Michael's pre-race stretch.

The race times were set up by gender and grade. The sophomore boys ran at 10:45a (give or take). But first they did some warm-ups together.

And posed for the obligatory pics for photog parents.

There were a lot of teams at this meet. These are just the sophomore boys and I may have even cut off a team on the edge of the photo.

I cheered Michael on at a couple of locations and each time he looked like he was in pain. He verified afterwards that he was in fact in pain.

Runners don't smile - that's how you know it is torture!

But he did great. Set a new PR and was happy with how the race went for him. 

Hopefully this is a great season. Or at least great conditioning for other seasons.