Initiation :: Accomplished

Carter got quite an initiation in the world of cross country today. With temps hovering at the 87-degree mark, he was in for a hot and humid first race at the Pittsville Invitational.

I personally hate running in the heat but you never know, Carter could be one of those people who love it. Turns out he doesn't, but that doesn't mean it was a bad day by any means.

There were 7 schools at this meet. I'm just guessing there were about 50 boys total. For Assumption, we have 7 high school boys on the team, including Carter and 3 other freshman who are running Varsity just to make it a complete team. We have 8 high school girls, too, and they rocked this meet -- finishing in first place! That's awesome and gives the boys something to aspire to.

For background, Carter had not run a timed 5K since he started cross country. He only had the one he did with me 2 years ago and we had to run/walk that and finished around 36 minutes. He told me today there will be no walking!

I have to confess my nerves were on edge. I guess I was nervous for him and hoping he'd do OK and not get injured and not completely run out of gas. Every lecture about pacing yourself, etc., goes right out the window until he could experience it firsthand and know what it feels like to run in one of these things!

The good news for us fans is that the course had them looping past us 3 times -- once at the start, then the middle, then the finish line. So I was glad I brought my camera. Some of these are blurry because I was shaky nervous and, of course, Carter's fast!

Coming past us about a half mile into it. Carter wore #257 today. See that big guy next to him? Carter beat him! Size doesn't matter.

Running past us in the middle of the race, I was glad he looked like he was breathing evenly and wasn't in pain. Carter told us later he pretty much had a side ache the whole race, but he did not walk. Had to slow jog for a bit, but he kept going despite the pain.

When you see a sea of the really fast runners cross the finish line, you just keep looking down the stretch, hoping to see your kid turn that final corner... and not be the last one to do it. And he wasn't at all. He finished 4th among our boys, so that means he earned points (according to Jim, who knows these things).

Down the home stretch!

Carter kicks it in gear. He later said the funnest part of cross country is those last 200 meters. You just focus on the finish line and sprint it out! His unofficial finishing time was 25:20. That's just over an 8-minute mile pace, which is a great starting point. We were so proud of him!

And he was rightfully proud of himself, too. On the way home we asked how he felt and he said, "Accomplished. I feel accomplished."

That sums it up nicely, don't you think?