Weekend Wrapup

Once again, I am left wondering where the weekend went.

We traveled to Athens, GA for Girl's first cross country meet of the season. Coach was happy, especially with Girl's finish-11th. She fought to beat a Junior, and recovered nicely when said Junior elbowed her within 10 meters of the finish line. Yep, she beat her. GO GIRL!

Her fellow 8th grader on varsity came in 2nd!! They look happy to be finished-as it was 97 at 9am when they started, and 96% humidity, so it was like running in 102 hot sticky degrees.

The varsity boys and Jr. Varsity did well also, and everyone was glad to be finished by 10am. A quick trip to the musician's warehouse, another quick stop to my yarn shop, then we treated ourselves to a couple of po'boys at Gautreau's Cajun Cafe in Watkinsville before driving the 90 minutes home. Yes, cajun food in the middle of Bulldog country.

A little afternoon nap, and we were off to Milledgeville to take the non-driving bunch to the movies. I wish we had gone to see "Rush Hour 3" with them instead of "The Bourne Ultimatum" as I got a headache from the all the handheld camera shots. What I do for buttered popcorn.....

The school season is off to a rollicking start, with volunteer stuff all day tomorrow, and another track meet on Wednesday afternoon. I hate it when my schedule gets so full so quickly- no time to work on the piles of projects that need doing around the house---uh, like cooking and showering...let's not even think knitting this week. I need to find smaller projects.

TEAMWORK- Running Style

Now I ask--Would any kid voluntarily get up at 5 am on the last Saturday of summer vacation???

Kudos to Girl and her teammates on her school cross country team -the Brentwood Eagles- for doing so.

9 of the 17 members of the team participated in a race about 90 minutes away on Saturday. And if anyone knows how hot it's been in Georgia-well, everywhere- the past few weeks, it's understood why the run would take place at 7:30 in the morning. Back into the travel time, and now it's apparent why the 5am wake up call.

5am. 5-freaking- am. It's still dark. Even the dog isn't up. Boy went with us, ever conscious of the fact that his sister has supported his athletic endeavors for years. But he let Dad drive, which is highly unusual, as the new driver wants to chauffeur us everywhere. 5 A-M. . .

We all met up at the neighbors' house and caravanned to the race- 4 cars full of sleepy families, the only traffic for miles on backroads.

Gotta hand it to my next door neighbor- who is also Girl's running coach. She's 3 years younger than I, and seriously started running only a couple of years ago. She looks great. She and her husband ran the Chicago marathon last year.

She has licked these kids into shape. They have been out training 3-4 days a week all summer. Of course the kids grumbled. Of course they whined, moaned, and complained. But they kept at it. More kids joined in. Misery loves company, they say.

She started with 6 runners last year. Now she has 17. And most are 8th grade or younger. They have fun, and all get along well. They pace each other and help each other through rough patches. She has, in fact, formed a TEAM.

There were lots of personal best times. A few of the older runners stepped up from 5 km competition to try the 10 km. They each succeeded in their own way. Some got trophies, some didn't. But the kids were all made to feel like winners because they did the best they could.

That's what coaching is all about.

And I don't think that there was a prouder group than the kids when all three of their coaches took home first place trophies in their respective divisions.

Now that's EAGLE PRIDE!