XC 2012 is over

And it ended GREAT!

Last weekend was the District meet. The boys wanted to win the meet, the girls wanted 6th place or higher so they could go to state…

It was a miserable weekend, weather-wise, and Bethany had pneumonia so she had to stay back with my mom because the doctor advised against her riding in a car for 5 hours and standing out in the rain with pneumonia. My dad was gone to visit my grandma, so it was just 4 of us that headed south for the exciting meet!

The starting line…

Coming into the finish line.

Because of the nasty weather, I didn’t take my good camera. These photos were all taken with my phone.

Sarah had a really good race, considering the difficulty of the course, the weather, and the intense pressure the team had put themselves under to do well and place 6th or higher. She was 32 overall and the 3rd LC runner.

Guys & gals waiting to hear the results…

And they did it! They are ON TO STATE!!! Girls placed 6th and boys placed 2nd.

Team dinner at Red Robin after the meet…with all the runners, parents, & fans, we had over 50 people eating together at Red Robin that evening. What a great night!

Then, this past Friday & Saturday was the trip to the State Cross Country meet…all the different divisions are there, (so, big schools, little schools, and everything in between), running at different times. The team headed over early Friday morning (it’s a 5-6 hour trip) and viewed the course. Then they got all dressed up and did some carbo-loading at Olive Garden together. I’ll have to share some of Sarah’s pictures from that later on. The girls & I left town about 11:00, stopped at the American Girl store, and then picked Ed up at Microsoft where he had been attending a conference all week. (That is a story in itself…I got terribly lost trying to find him because my GPS was just a tad confused…)

We arrived at the hotel where the team and the other parents were staying around 7:00. We had a great evening socializing with parents and watching the team goof around and relax together. In the morning, though, the runners all put their game faces on and there was no more socializing. It was all about focusing on the upcoming run.

The hotel just had rooms with 2 double beds, so luck Elise got to sleep on two chairs shoved together. Good thing she’s still little!

Last circle prayer together for this year.

The starting line…25 teams, 140 runners

Sarah looked good, but a little tense near the start of the race.

Coming down the hill

Coming into the finish line! Her stride wasn’t super long and she felt tired, but overall it was a pretty good race. Not her best time, but not her worst. She was 69th overall, 5th for LC. Two of her teammates had their PR’s, so they were ahead of Sarah this time around. Those two girls helped boost their team to 7th place at state! The boys came in 5th!

So proud of our girl!

Dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory on the way home…who is that girl sticking her tongue out at her mother? Surely not MY daughter…

Many thanks to the coaches and Sarah’s teammates for making Sarah’s high school career start off on such a positive note. Without all of them, she could have struggled with “finding her place” in high school. They welcomed her, accepted her, encouraged her, supported her, prayed for her, loved her, entertained her, and lifted her up. I love them all dearly and I know she does too. The veteran parents were supportive of us and our whole family…letting us caravan, giving us prime viewing advice, letting the little girls follow them around at meets, answering emails, and just giving us 100% support all the time. We could not have asked for a better school team experience than what we just finished.

And now what is the high schooler going to do with all her time? Winter training…and stage crew for the musical in January & February. Fun times!