Loyal Fans

With all of Carter's cross country meets "away" and some "far away," hubby and I know we can't make it to all of them. But I am going to try my darndest to get to as many as I can.

Today's meet was in Loyal, an hour trek northwest of Rapids. It would have been like a 2-hour drive from Iola, so I worked from home so I could go. As it turned out, both Carter and I put on miles today. I had to go pick up the CRV from the shop so that was a 4.18-mile run/walk. (Loving my new Garmin watch!) I was happy with my average pace until I realized Carter still runs 2 minutes faster than me. Per mile! Oh well.

Got plenty of work done so that we could leave the house in mid-afternoon. I saw a few of the other CC moms at the bus dropoff area but none planned to go up to Loyal today. Since I wanted to be a "loyal" Royal fan, I made the trip myself. I was glad I went so I could cheer on the team. We were light on Assumptions fans.

The race did not go as well for Carter. It was super hot again and he got tuckered out and finished over a minute slower this time. Here's a few photo highlights...

Team prayer before the start.

Team huddle: Royals!

The Loyal invitational included 14 schools. Whoa.

And they're off! Can you see Carter? Yeah, me neither.

Still staying with the crowd at the first mile marker.

On the tail of a Regis runner.

Looking to make the pass.

Oops. Seeing Mom with the camera.

He passed him!

Part of their route took them through a corn field. Not kidding. Here he is coming out of the field and making the turn back on "normal" ground again.

The last mile.

Running out of steam.

But sprinting hard at the finish. Way to go, Carter!

Our boys team finished last again, I think. But our girls won again. Carter said despite his slower time, he felt better mentally. That's good. We told him he'd probably learn something every time -- and that's even before school has started. Wow.