XC Update (before the season ends)

Sorry about the blogging break.  I have been immersed in organizing and writing the Primary sacrament meeting program for the past week and a half.  This annual event has long been my favorite sacrament meeting program of the year, but I never fully appreciated how much work went in to it.  I'm even more grateful now than I have been in the past for those sisters who slaved away to make each program come off relatively seamlessly.  I'll let you know how ours goes on October 28th.

Adam is about halfway through his junior cross country season.  Due to budget cuts, there are even fewer meets this fall than last, so he has just two more meets before the district race in about a month.  The biggest news flash is that he isn't injured this year, and he is running well and having fun.  That last part is most important to me.  I told him many times last season, "If you have fun when you run, then you've won."  I've discovered he has the most fun when he runs fast.  Not surprisingly, he runs a lot faster when he's not injured.

He really came through in his first meet of the season, the Jimmy Driscoll Invitational at Bishop Kelly.  It was so smoky that Saturday morning that I was actually kind of surprised they held the meet.  Witness:

Adam and teammate, Scott.  No, this picture is
not blurry.  It really was that smoky.

Sprinting down the homestretch

Yup, Top 10!  Hooray for Adam!

He has had three more meets since the opening lung-scorching race.  (My eyes and lungs were burning just standing there.  Don't know how they did it.)  He ran in the Twilight Invitational in Caldwell, the Silverwood Coaster Cross in Coeur d'Alene, and Centennial's Stephen Thompson Memorial Centipede Race.

He always seems a little tightly wound before each race.
Guess that what makes him run fast.  I just want to hug him.

And they're off. . .

The Centipede Race is the most unique one they run all year.  Seven runners have to hold on to a rope and complete the first 2.25 miles together.  Then they hit the transition zone where they drop the rope and race the last 0.75 miles on their own.  Adam had the disadvantage of being assigned to be the lead runner this year, and he expended a ton of energy pacing/dragging everyone along.  Fortunately, his team did well and finished second overall.  He was run down in the homestretch by a normally slower runner that he had paced along, but I think that makes him all the more fired up to run well at Bob Firman this Saturday.  

Waiting for the "Runners, take your mark. . ."

Rounding the corner just prior to the drop zone.  I think
Adam was pretty gassed at this point, but he did great.

Buckle up for the last half of the season.  I think Centennial is on their way to state!  Mark the date:  October 27th in Lewiston.  (That's gonna be a BUSY weekend!  See above.)