This weekend, I begged my parents to join my in a little trip down to El Paso for the regional cross country meet. The boys have been running their hearts out this season and I wanted them to finish the season out strong. We drove down Friday morning after I finished a few piano and voice lessons. The road down to El Paso from Albuquerque is barren, to say the most! I have driven to El Paso a few times before and at least it is straight down I-25.
We arrived at our hotel right on schedule; 3:00. We checked-in and changed our clothes, then drove down to the park to meet the team for a jog through of the course. The boys said the course was easy and fast. I thought it was pretty fast, too. It took us about 14 minutes to jog the course and that included time to stop and retrace our steps.
The 8 and under boys are so silly! I love running with them. They work hard and push themselves hard all the time. I love seeing true dedication to a life long sport. Running is the best! I started running when I was 21. A bit late in the game, I admit. I remember the first time I ran and mile. It took me 15 minutes. I could probably walk a mile that fast, now. I was so out of shape when I was in college. I had a roommate that ran 5 miles every other evening in college. I thought she was amazing! (She really was!) Now I know it is something that I could have done if only I was willing to get up off the couch!
I am so glad my boys have found a sport they can do for a lifetime. They love swimming and they love running. I just need to get them excited about biking and I will have little triathletes on my hands!
After the jog through, we met up with the team for dinner. I promised the boys they could swim at the hotel, so we met up with my college roommate Stephanie Isaacson and her sweet boy at the hotel. It was so fun to catch up. It was almost as if 10 years hadn't passed. Our boys got along so well. We only had one minor injury with four boys running wild at the pool.
I made the boys take a shower and I turned on a movie in our room so they could fall asleep. We woke up bright and early to eat our breakfast so they could have it completely digested before the race. I miss read the text about what time to arrive for the meet, so we made our team a bit nervous as we drove around looking for a place to park.
The boys ran their hearts out! Nolen consistently ran a minute faster every time he raced this season. Saturday's meet was no different. He was a whole minute faster. I know he can run much faster, as soon as he gets the confidence to pass the other runners on the course. Edward ran about 10 seconds slower at regionals than he did at state. He still pushed hard and I bet he could have even sped up at the end if he wanted too. That's the key, right?
After the race, we waited around for the awards. The boys team came in 2nd overall! Edward came in 56th and Nolen came in 61st. There were 91 entries.One of the boys on the team received two metals and kindly gave Nolen one of his team medals! Nolen was over the moon excited! He talked on and on about the silver medal he won. He even wore it ALL THE WAY HOME!
This really made our trip amazing. I know it isn't easy to give up something you worked for, but the boy on his team who gave him the medal was truly kind. It totally motivated Nolen to want to earn more medals in the future. We talked about how he needs to push harder at practice in order to get medals. I am so excited for track season next spring.
After the meet, I told the boys I would take them to see some of the sights in southern New Mexico. We drove 2 1/2 hours over to Carlsbad Caverns and spent about 2 hours walking through the caverns. It was really cool to see the caverns. We walked through every route underground.
We then hopped back in the car and headed home. We stopped in Roswell, New Mexico to eat dinner and search for aliens. We didn't see any aliens, but it was fun to talk about life on other planets.
We made it safely home by 10:00 at night and went straight to bed.
I just love being a part of Cougar track.
LIFE CHANGING!
I am running a 5K on Thursday and I know, for the first time in my life, I am completely prepared to break my Personal Record!!
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