My son’s next sport has started up. For the 2nd year, he is running cross country for his school. Friday was his first meet. He runs in the 4th-6th grade group; the teams in this particular meet are from city & suburban Catholic schools. They run a mile. During one of his practices, they timed him, and he came in at about 6.5 minutes; pretty damn good if you ask me. The kid is fast, let me tell you. Friday gave us the opportunity to see how fast he really was.
Last year, his best finish was 22nd place; I thought that was awesome. He had never done this before. He’s just a natural athlete. I’m sure all the swimming he does helps him get in running shape; both of them help him on the basketball court. I love watching him play all his sports. Coaching him in baseball is great. Seeing him in the pool, swim at meets throughout the year… that’s really cool; something I had never seen before. On the basketball court, it’s exciting, just like floor hockey used to be. Running though… I don’t know… for some reason, I like watching him run more than anything; maybe it’s because I hate running… haha. Seeing him out there, doing it… it’s impressive. It’s just him, on his own, against all the other kids. Maybe it’s the long distance aspect of it… it’s not a sprint like his swim meets are; not sure exactly why I love watching him run, but I do.
Before the race, I asked him how he was feeling, how did he think he was going to do. He told me that his goal was to finish top five. I told him that’s a great goal to set, and I hope you accomplish it. As the kids lined up before the race started, I snapped a couple pics; I also recorded the opening gun, and all the kids as they took off running. It’s a mad dash; my son was out early, and was at the head of the pack. I walked over to see him in the middle of the course. When I got there, I saw one kid… waaaaay out in front of the pack; I was like wow… That wasn’t my son; OK, where is he? The next kid up wasn’t a single, all by himself; it was a group of kids. They were spread out a bit, but they were all within each other’s range. My son was in that pack. I believe he was 8th at the time. That’s great. OK, time to walk over to the finish line. I started recording again as they came down the homestretch. 1st place was already accounted for, but here came that pack again; now, my son was 6th. I recorded him as he came down the stretch, but stopped, because I wanted to actually watch the very last part; my son was mad I didn’t keep recording. He ended up passing up 2 more kids before the finish line; he finished in 4th place!
I was a little bit in awe; I was very proud. The kid said he wanted to finish top 5, and sure enough, he did. How many kids were in this race? I walked over, trying to find out the information; I guess I should have checked if they had his official time too… that’ll come next week I’m sure. I did find out how many kids were running: 110! So my son was 4th out of 110!!! Damn, that’s good.
We stopped at Portillo’s to celebrate; he has 2 more meets to go. I asked him if he thought he could top that finish. He told me top 5, top 10… haha. I always tell him he could do whatever he sets his mind too. It’s one thing to tell him that; it’s another thing to watch him accomplish it. In a way, seeing is believing. I believe; I hope he does too. Sky’s the limit man, sky is the limit!
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