So, my 13 year old son had his first cross country meet tonight. I talked him into running so he could in shape for hockey.
He’s in the B Group. In this area they have 3 groups - A, B and C.
Supposedly this is to separate kids by speed level so kids are placed with similar runners. Clearly the coaches sandbag this because the kid who won the C group ran a 6 minute race. (That one is a one miler). The A and B group runs two mile races.
Anyway, I take a quick mental scan of the course on my drive in, so I have a little intel to give him before the race. The course is a rolling hill course, so from the starting line we can see out about where the first mile is. It then turns and you can sight of the runners again at about the 1.25 mile mark.
At that point there is a large hill there, and once you crest that hill you have about a half mile downhill to the finish. I point out two large trees at the top of the hill and tell him:
”once you get there, you go and go hard til the end.”
I also told him: you are fit for this. If you think you are tired, you aren’t. Push through that and I promise your body will respond. He nods ok and off he goes.
The gun goes off and I start the stopwatch on my phone. At the 1.25 mile mark I see the first kid. I start counting kids, and by god I look and immediately recognize his running style - He’s running 4th and about to climb that hill.
I started walking toward a corner about 100 yards from the finish. They turn a corner here and then they can see the fans and the finish line at the bottom of the hill.
He crests that hill and he’s still running 4th. He’s turning to see where his competition is, and there are 3 kids stacked up about 2 seconds behind. I whisper to myself: “you gotta go kid.”
He comes to the corner where I am, and we look at each other right in the eyes and I shout:
”You gotta go. Go now. GO GO GO!!!”
He puts in this incredible kick - it damn near made me cry on the spot. And proceeds to smoke those kids down that hill at full sprint.
Final Finish: 4th!! Top ten of each group medal.
PODIUM!! Unofficial time for two miles: 12:59.
Booyah! So proud of him. What a day.