August 29 - My girlfriend and I got up at 5:30 the day of the race, drove to the forest preserve which was only minutes from the 8am race, and took a run. I was pretty excited mixed with trepidation.
The coaches had said middle schoolers would always run about a mile race, and here in her first race she was going to run a high school 'C' race which was 2 miles. I was pretty confident she could handle a mile, but a race of two miles is pretty long. After all, her base consisted mostly of playing soccer all summer long with runs of about 4 miles twice a week for the last month.
The race was on the grounds of a local high school, with a portion in the woods that backed up to the playing fields. Over 20 schools and nearly 1,000 competitors were present for the six races. Although typically varsity boys run 5K and girls run 4K, in today's kick-off to the cross country season all six races, boys varsity, JV, and 'C', and girls varsity, JV, and C, would all be 2 miles in length. It was quite the scene with so many competitors and parents. I was surprised at the continued, and even increased popularity of cross country. I thought everybody was playing soccer and hockey in Minnesota. Turns out, even more kids are running. Isn't that great?
The previous night I talked to TJ about not going out too fast; there is just nothing more miserable than being less than half done and short of breath and exhausted. To start picking off tired girls after the mile, and if she finished around 14 minutes which I thought was a possibility, she'd finish in the top 10. My girlfriend had looked at me a little incredulously. What? Gotta help set expectations (I mean goals), right?
I talked to her about taking the spikes out of her new racing shoes because I had read a good portion of the race was on a paved trail.
I talked to her about double knotting her laces. Obvious right?
Typical 12 year old. Laces came undone in the first half mile. She forgot to take the spikes out so had to run with her shoulder in the bushes and dodging spectators on the edge of the trail. But, at least she didn't go out too fast.
7:05 first mile; sitting in the top 30 of 350 - third amongst members of her team with her neighbor, hockey and soccer buddy (O) right off her shoulder. A good position, but it barely looks like she's moving with her shuffling stride where she doesn't pick her feet up more than a couple inches off the ground, and her hands seemingly stuck to her chest, torso swinging left and right instead of the arms.
Did I mention 350 girls. Yes 350 girls; 7th grade through 12th, but mostly the younger grades. Two schools, Edina and Wayzata, had more than 50 girls each entered in the race. The leader and eventual winner was a 12th grader that would have finished in the top 3 for her varsity 'A' team, but she was running a 'C' (A varsity, B JV, C the rest) level race. Curious.
At 1 1/2 miles, and reemerging from the woods, both TJ and O had moved up to the top 20 and were picking off runners with regularity. She still didn't look like she was moving, but the girls that went out too fast were moving backwards. As they came down the final straight they passed girl after girl including their teammates and finished 8th and 9th respectively, first and second for their team, in a time of 14:05. Woo Hoo!
Seventh and eight grade teammates finished in 11th, 12th and 15th resulting in a team score of 55. Out of 14 schools that's a great score. But, the local dynasty, Edina, a team they will be surely facing for years to come, finished 3, 5, 6, 7, 18, with all seventh and eighth graders for a fantastic score of 39.
Their other good friend, M, struggled with a side ache and came in two minutes later. A disappointment for her that she would quickly avenge the next week.
Lots of pictures were taken of the 5 girls on her team that got medals. Then it was time for the next race and running around cheering for their older, and faster, teammates. Fun time!
I was hopeful this early success would get her more excited about running and racing; even though there's no ball.
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