Cross Country: Senior Season

Adam has been running competitively for seven years, and it's hard to believe that his high school cross country career is winding down.  Really hard.  Cross country has long been one of my favorite sports to watch, a revelation that may surprise some people.  I find the purity of the sport simply exhilarating. It's really just the runner and the clock.  No one's jockeying for playing time or trying to schmooze the coach.  Run fast, run varsity. Everyone runs; no one sits on the bench.  Very cool.

Overall, Adam has had a good season.  The highlights of the year, so far (at least to me), have been the Trask Mountain Assault in Oregon, the Athlete's Foothill Race in Eagle, and Centipede. He ran strongly and confidently and managed to awe me.

Trask Mountain Assault

Trask was a true cross country race--up and down a mountain, across streams multiple times, and four trips through deep mud pits.  It seemed grueling to me, but Adam loved it. He called it epic. Yes, this makes him a true runner.

This is fun?

Check out those quads!  Are you kidding me?!

I bet he had delightfully soft skin after this.

Second overall in the boys' race.  He won a rock.

Great weekend!  And, no, I never did manage to
get his clothes all the way clean.  Worth it!

Athlete's Foothill Race

This race was held in the Eagle Foothills, not far from where Adam helped rescue the downed runner last year.  It was a fun race for the runners but a little frustrating for the spectators.  I only got to see Adam as he was coming around the bend to the finish line because it was a point-to-point race.  Yup, just a 5K up and down the high desert hills. Adam finished second overall, so that was kind of cool.  Not too many pictures, however.

He'll be comin' round the mountain when he comes. . .

Now those are some serious runner's legs!

First place team.  Very cool trophy.

Centipede

Centipede is a part-collaborative, part-individual race.  Seven runners race the first two plus miles holding on to a rope.  With three-quarters of a mile to go, the runners drop the rope and finish on their own.  It's interesting to watch.

Last year Adam had to run the "pull" spot where he was responsible for pacing the group. He was completely gassed at the drop zone and struggled a bit over the last portion of the race.  This year he took off like a rocket when they dropped the rope, and it was a powerful thing to watch.

Pre-race focus

Almost there. . .

 

More hardware--nice!

Running has taught Adam a lot about discipline, hard work, confidence, and friendship. We're looking forward to a good finish to the season.  Go, Adam, go!!

Homecoming 2013

Adam went to his senior Homecoming Dance a couple of weeks ago.  Can't believe this kid is already well into his senior year. . . oh, my!  It seems like my oldest just started dating a month or two ago, and she's already married and has her second child on the way. 

Anyway, Adam asked a really cute girl, Rachel, to Homecoming, and she said yes!  She is the captain of the girls' cross country team, and since Adam is the captain of the boys' team, I thought that was pretty cool.  See their matching C's?
  

While they both look pretty cool in their XC duds, it's nice to know that they clean up well.  I thought Rachel was pretty before she and Adam went out, but I realized when we got together to take a few pictures that I had never seen her anywhere but in a cross country situation.  Holy cow, she's adorable!

They went in a very large group, and there were some really great kids there.  I hope Adam knows how important it is to have good friends.  I think he does.  As a parent, I am grateful that he has sought out quality people to hang out with.

Just the guys. 

Russell is one of Adam's best friends.  He runs XC, too.

Rachel also gets points for her reply to Adam's request.  How cute is this?

Since Adam's senior cross country season is just about over, I'll blog about that next. Promise.

Pumpkins for the Primary

Back in May when Mike and I were deciding what to plant in our garden, I was a little overwhelmed about the thought of getting a whole bunch of produce that I would have to can or freeze.  When I inventoried the storage room, it seemed like we didn't have very many empty mason jars.  So, I told Mike we were going to use much of our garden to plant pumpkins for the Primary kids since I am presently in the Primary presidency.  He was game for the idea, so we went ahead and planted pumpkins. . . lots of them. . . seven hills or something ridiculous like that.

Happily, the pumpkin vines produced quite well.  We harvested most of the potential jack-o-lanterns yesterday, and we were pleased to count 50 pumpkins.  I'd already gotten four of them and given them to the Primary president because she wanted to take them to a few less-active kids. So, that makes 54 pumpkins in total, just about the number of Primary kids we have.  How cool is that?!

I wish some of them were bigger, but hey, I'll
take what I can get.

Hoping that some of these get just a wee
bit more ripe in the next week. . .

Next Sunday is our first official practice for the Primary program, and I'm thinking I may reward "good practicers" with a free pumpkin.  Hmmm. . . you all know I'll just give them the pumpkins anyway, but that can just be our little secret, right?  Happy fall, everyone!!