Even though it has only been two and a half weeks since our last full-team practice, cross country season feels so far away that I will paste in a few journal clip to tell the tale. Reading through this journal entry, I can see the fatigue threading through my words. I was exhausted! But it tells the story:
Thursday, October 31, 2019
On my way to the district cross country meet, I left Amber happily playing with her cousins. Bless them!
I made it to the high school 7 minutes before the xc bus was supposed to leave, and there was no bus there. I went in and found Jeff in crisis management mode. Turns out our bus-less-ness was the least of our worries! THREE of our girls were hiding in the bathroom and bailing out on the meet. One was a no-show. Another didn't get her grades up in time to run for our team. When I arrived we were down to FOUR girls. We needed five for this meet so our district could keep its 14 slot allotment at the state meet next year. The district allotments are based on the number of full teams racing in each district. We needed all seven full teams to finish the race or else next year we would drop down to half that number--only seven individuals state allotment slots rather than 14. That would make it even harder for anyone to qualify for state next year! No! We started the season with 16 girls. Surely we could find someone from that list to be our #5 at the district meet.
Jeff sent me into the bathroom to find out the situation with the three hiding girls. They all claimed that their parents had said they couldn't go to the meet. Just now. Ok...I must confess to doubting their honesty, but there was nothing I could do. We crossed them off our list. Thankfully we still had one eligible runner on campus and someone went and pulled her out of class and asked her if she would run as our #5 varsity girl today. She agreed, bless her heart, even though she knew she'd be the last place finisher. We had our five girls--barely! And the bus arrived and we only left 15 minutes later than we had planned. Somehow!
The meet was COLD. I was cold the whole time except for the ten minutes I was jogging the warmup with the girls, and maybe a few moments of wild sprinting between course-viewing points during the races. Our girls team finished last by over 80 points. Our boys team only had 2 of our top 5 runners racing today (we filled in the rest of the slots with JV runners due to bad grades, slacking, and other reasons). But the boys team still finished 6th out of 7! So that was nice. And our boys' team captain, Reid made it to state with a 9th place finish overall. It was exciting! He ran so well!
Our poor #5 girl cried off and on through her entire race and finished several minutes behind the rest of the field. But she finished. And really, she finished in under 30 minutes too, so it wasn't even a bad run for her! Regardless, it is hard to be the lingering last runner in a race. It was hard to figure out what to do and say! I nearly cried with her from pride at her effort. Almost every single one of our runners ran their fastest time on that course during the district meet, so it was a good end to their season.
We finished off the night with a stop at a plaza of fast food restaurants. Jeff and I went to Dickey's BBQ alone together--another coaches' date--while the rest of the team scattered to various pizza and hamburger places. ("Meet back at the bus at 6:45pm!") Meanwhile, Jay and Rose went next door to Ian's house after school and went trick-or-treating with him and then trunk-or-treating at the church. They were so tired when they got home! They got home a few minutes before us, and when we arrived home with Amber Jay and Rose were both lying in their beds exhausted! Amber had a grand time with her cousins, doing art projects and trick or treating. I am relieved that this piecemeal holiday is over!
[end journal entry]
After the district meet, Reid was the only runner who needed to come to practice, so my role as assistant coach became less vital. Amber and I showed up at the beginning of practice for moral support, then left when they started running. A handful of 4-5 boys came to support Reid and run with him during practice. It warmed my heart to see team support, even on that small scale because that's what Sunnyside cross country needs! Team culture, team spirit, and all the team-y-ness we can muster. Distance running is hard and brutal, and those long workouts can be mentally draining. But if kids are surrounded by friends and positive comments and fun jokes, the difficulty of running is tempered and transformed into happy fun memories.
The only costume picture I took on Halloween--before school.
Our tiny girls team bravely toeing the starting line. Sniff, these girls are so sweet.
We attempted a team picture in the cold after the awards, but several kids had already gone home with parents so it was not a complete picture and everyone was freezing and ready to get onto the bus. We did our best!
Yeah Reid, 9th place state qualifier! I loved hearing our team cheer cheer cheer for him when he got his ribbon.
BBQ date on Halloween night: we dressed up as tired chilled cross country coaches and feasted on smoky meats and fried okra.
November 1st candy sorting. We let each kid keep 10 pieces and then dumped the rest into a communal bucket to share. It's funny, nobody has really been eating much of it at all. Maybe it's because I was not there on Halloween night to stop them from chowing down on sugar? Hmmm...
Ugh, our fridge was a cluttered mess. The kids hung all kinds of paper Halloween decorations all over it. The sight of it stressed me out. Then Amber started gluing pictures on top of the paper ghosts and pumpkins.
We had our cross country team awards banquet bonfire at the Condie family's house (a team member) the Saturday after the district meet, November 2nd (one week before the state meet). It was well attended and fun to see everyone together for one last hurrah to the season. Sometimes I'm awesome at taking pictures, sometimes I snap a single crooked one and that's it. I'll blame the cold on this crooked picture, haha. There's nothing quite like the relaxed energy of teenagers with food, fire, and fun! It was good to gather and celebrate their hard work.
Amber and I stood on the track during Reid's last few workouts leading up to the state meet. It started getting dark so early!
THE STATE MEET: Jeff did most of it. I was more of a spectator than a coach, although my coach's card did get me a free entry into the state meet. The state meet was on Saturday, November 9th in Pasco, WA (a 1 hour drive from Sunnyside). Reid's race wasn't until 3pm, so it was easy getting there. Jeff drove Reid and 6 supporting teammates in a school van, and I drove Jay, Rose, Amber, Laurs, and Lukas in our van. Reid ran his fastest 5k ever and beat Jeff's smoking fast 11th grade PR by 7 seconds, so that was exciting. We were at the meet for barely an hour! Then we loaded up and drove over to Red Robin with the Weavers (Reid's family) and the 6 teammates who came to support Reid at the meet.
These guys lived it up. The night before the state meet, they went to pick up Reid's race number and jog the course. Then they went out to dinner on the way home. I was astounded when Jeff texted me this selfie from the restaurant. Jeff never takes selfies of his own volition! I could tell they were having a grand ole time and it made me happy.
Way down there is the start line of the state meet boys 4A race: 165 runners, the first 126 of them finished the 3.1 mile course in under 17 minutes. Reid finished 94th in his new PR of 16:36. Yes!!
We crossed the course near the finish line so I snapped a picture of Jay.
Cross country is over for another year. We loved it, and we are already making plans for next year.
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