Jill reports:
So we went apple picking and then drove out to the [cross country] race. We had to stop for gas, and ended up arriving later than planned. Also, they seemed to be ahead of their published heat schedule. So when we got there, the 6 and under age group was already on their second call, and lined up. We registered quickly and got Aidan out there, but he was still in his long pants, and wearing a t-shirt, not a team jersey or shirt. (I had put them in other shirts for the apple picking, in case it was messy.) I felt so badly for him, looking at the line, because every other kid was in a little running suit or at least a team shirt and running shorts — it was a real x/c invitational, so he just looked kind of ridiculous. Oh, and he’s wearing his white Target tennis shoes, not running shoes.
The age group had to run a 1k, which is a little more than six-tenths of a mile. They take off, and right away Aidan veers off the wrong way because we hadn’t been there for the course walk through. But he gets back in line, and they disappear into the woods. About five minutes later, a kid comes in with nobody even in view behind him, and I was thinking, “Wow, these kids are good.” Then the next kid comes out of the woods and I see red pants! Aidan was in second and had several kids right behind him. Of course, being Aidan, he’s running about ten steps, then slowing down and looking back over his shoulder. Then running ten steps, slowing down and looking over his shoulder. I could almost feel all these x/c coaches around me being horrifically damaged by the sight. I ran out and yelled, “Do not look back one more time!” He put his head down and kicked it in for second place overall. He got a silver medal — only top three in each heat (m/f) got medals (there were no “thanks for trying” medals), so I never thought he would get a medal and I was so excited for him. These kids are all on x/c teams and run all the time, so I thought it was really impressive that he beat most of them. He does have those flashes of competitiveness every once in a while.
Then Mack was up in the 7-8-year-olds heat. There were a lot of kids in the heat, and everyone in different unitards and tank tops for x/c teams. At least Mack had a team jersey and running shoes. But he also was not stretched and didn’t know the course.
They took off and we had to wait a while — they were running a 2k. We walked out to where we could see the people as they came up through the woods to the finishing loop. I heard the host coach saying something about, “I don’t know…it’s going to be a close race.” But then we started to see people, and we saw about four people blinking by through the trees and none of them were wearing red. Luckily, it turns out two of them were girls (one of whom mis-ran the course) and Mack came charging out in fifth place, number three boy. Remember, only the top three boys get any hardware. There were two boys right on Mack’s heels as he came out into the open area, and I actually thought they were going to get him. He looked kind of gassed. But he played it beautifully. He put on a little spurt and got some distance. Then he eased it back and I think one of the boys thought he could catch up (the other one was obviously out of gas). The boy picked it up and closed in on Mack. Then, with about 70 yards left, Mack started his kick and the kid didn’t have enough left because of the effort he had just put into getting close. So Mack got third easily.