The boys worked very hard this Cross Country season and qualified for the Junior Olympic Cross Country National Championships in Alabama on December 11th. Very exciting to have all three running!!
It was quite a monsterous job to get us all ready to go, but the day finally came and we were picked up by a stretch Limo! One of Mike's clients owns a limo service, so he treated us to a limo ride to the airport. The boys were SOOO excited.
A photo of Ian as he and I were walking the course.
It took us a WHILE to walk the course because there were many distractions :).
The Junior Olympic powers that be were smart to choose a location with a play structure. That thing saw more action in 2 days than it had probably seen since it was built.
A healthy lunch on Friday at Subway of course.
These are two of a few guilty gifts that Ian got away with during the trip ("guilty" meaning I felt bad that he was being drug around everywhere for something that was not at all for him, so I gave in when I usually wouldn't.) I heard him telling someone that he got these stuffed animals because he was drug around.
The opening ceremonies on Friday night were at this beautiful university in Hoover. They had their Southern Bells out to greet everyone. The boys weren't entirely sure what to think of them.
Here is another photo of Samford University. Definitely one of the prettiest campuses I have ever seen!
A photo of SOME (they couldn't all fit in the photo) of the athletes at the Opening Ceremonies. There were approx 3000 youth there competing from all over the United States. Each of our boys had about 300 or so kids in their individual races.
Saturday morning arrived and we were at the course early since Ryan's group was the 2nd group to run. The girls his age ran first. We watched the race and the girl who won was taller than me. Genetics are SO unfair! This is a photo of Mike in the Southern California Roadrunners tent preparing Ryan's race shoes (they were outfitted with spikes because of the previous days rainy conditions)
Ryan stretching out in the tent before his race. He doesn't look nervous. I was more nervous than he was.
Our Junior Olympic Athletes :)
If you look in the background you can see the long string of kids. That is the starting line. They line every kid up across this whole field so that everyone is at the front of the line. AFter the gun goes off, they run across this field for probably 300-400 yards before it funnels into a 10 foot wide course.
This is Ryan as his group is running across that huge field. Ryan is in the right of the photo with the long black socks and the yellow and black uniform. Notice his size compared to the other boys. He is running against some boys who are almost 2 years older than him.
He looks a little distressed here. This is definitely the most intense race he has participated in.
This is Ryan running into the finishing stretch. Again, notice the sizes of boys. Tough race.
Ryan ended up coming in 39th place for his group. We looked at the posted scores (the birthdates are listed by the names). Of the boys that were born in the same year as Ryan (2001), he came in 5th place. Not bad. That means next year when he is in the same age group and the older boys have aged up to the next group, he will have a good shot of finishing in the top 5 or 10 in the country. He is already looking forward to next year :).
Kyle ran about an hour after Ryan did. Here he is as he is coming to the side lines to give me his extra clothes before the race. He really doesn't look like himself. I think he is awfully cold. The temperature was in the high 40s, low 50s that day.
He chose to wear just his tanktop and shorts. It was pretty cold. But he didn't want to wear what he wasn't used to running in.
Here's a shot after they are circling the lake for the second time. Again, our genetics are not in our favor. Where is Grandad Floyd's height? Kyle ran a great race. He finished in 114 for his age group. He finished in 29th place for the boys that were born in 1999. That means next year his chances of getting in the top 30 are pretty good. He finished in 31st place last year when he was in the younger age group (and he was one of the older ones). We are so proud of him!
Andrew doing some stride-outs as his group is warming up at the starting line.
Andrew deep in thought as he comes to the sidelines to give me his clothes.
Andrew ran a good hard race. He was also running against kids that were a year older than him. He finished 268 out of 307. He came in 103rd of the boys born in 1997. He felt very good about his race and is certain that no one else on that course had suffered and recovered from quite what he has been thru this last year (or the last 5 years really). He knows that it is an amazing accomplishment just to be able to participate. We are so proud of him!
At the end of the day--a very cool experience!! We feel very blessed to have been able to take part in the Junior Olympics the last two years and hope there are more years to come.
As a side note...Kyle's Southern California Roadrunners team took 2nd place for his age group (yes all of the boys with the red ribbons are in his age group) It was pretty exciting because they got to stand up on the stand and be awarded medals at the closing ceremonies. Interestingly enough, the teams to the right and left of Kyle's team (the 1st and 3rd place teams) are also from Southern California. Southern California is intensely competetive and there was at least one, if not more So Cal teams that finished in the top 3 for almost every age group and gender.
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