Four times More: It's cross country season

I'm not sure why we signed up for cross country this year. I think mostly it was because I found out that Coach Martha was the coach! She is one of the most awesome ladies I've ever met! She is so full of energy and fun to be around! I never thought it was a good idea for young kids to be running. I was actually pretty against it because as a high school runner, I had bitter memories of getting passed by 9 year olds in races. In fact, there was a span of years where a girl dominated the KY state cross country meet when she was in 5th - 9th grades. Anyway, I found out that Martha was coaching and that the kids only ran a half mile and suddenly it sounded like fun.

Zach has had difficulty finding a sport he really enjoyed. Football was a disaster and soccer was great until games rolled around. Then he froze on the field. So, I was also looking for a sport he might enjoy. So far cross country has been a great success for him. Practices were difficult at first. He still gets the stomach ache right before practice and meets. I'm not sure why. I think it might be nerves. But once the gun goes off, he smiles all the way.

Isabella is enjoying it too. Mostly because she likes being around the other girls...not so much for the running part. She took a hard spill at this last meet. She tripped and fell during the first 100 meters of the race. Luckily she didn't get trampled, but by the time she got up everybody was way past her and she was in tears. We gave her big hugs and she and I raced to the finish to see Zachary.

Zach-man did great at Tom Sawyer. It's difficult to compare races because they are all different distances. The first race was 0.5 miles, the second was 0.75 miles, and the last was a 1K (0.6 miles). He finished the 1K in 4:55, which was under 8 mile/mile pace! Pretty great! Each time he seems to be improving and moving his way up. But most importantly he is really enjoying it.

After the St. Edwards meet, the St. X boys were all congratulating him and he was on top of the world! It was great to see him enjoying the positive attention from other kids!

So here are the photos from our last couple of meets!