Cross Country Running

Ane begged us last spring to let her join the track team.  I felt horrible, because there were so many things going on (new baby being one of them), plus the fact that we would have to get her from practices and then to meets at different schools.  She was disappointed.

So when the cross country team started up this fall, she begged yet again to get to join.  This time, the school had gotten smart, and all the practices are held during their lunch recess instead of after school.  The Webmaster and I hated to say no to her again, so we told her that we could make it work for the four meets.  Ane was thrilled.

Their first meet was held at Ane’s school last Thursday.

The Webmaster worked from home, and I took Thumper with me.  This was probably the easiest meet for us to deal with, since I didn’t have to pick her up early from school to drive her somewhere.  Ane was so excited to run her first race.  She had to wait to run – the kids all run with their grade and gender.  The 6th grade girls ran first, followed by the 6th grade boys, then the 5th grade girls, and so on.  The last group to run were the 3rd grade boys.

When the 4th grade girls took off, and I saw the speed of some of them, combined with Ane’s slightly awkward running form, I just breathed a prayer: “Dear Lord, please don’t let her finish last.”

Ane placed 15th out of 16.

I was concerned that she would be upset, but she was actually fairly upbeat about the whole race.  “I’ll do better next time,” she assured me.

I was just proud of her for making the effort, and then not being down on herself for not finishing closer to first.  I’ve never been much of an athlete (I can hear Ressis and Auntie laughing right now), but the Webmaster played baseball, football, and basketball at different times through his school career.  Ane has clearly inherited my love of reading, but she’s also inherited her father’s habit of talking during class (ahem).  So maybe she’s gotten some of his athletic skills, too.

On to the next meet!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 1st, 2013 at 1:09 am and is filed under Children, School Days, Sports.
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