Starting Point

Even though it's Saturday, Carter had one more cross country practice for the week. But this one was a little different. Today was "time trials."

Basically they had to jog 10 minutes to warm up, then "officially" run around the track 4 times and get their mile time.

Since their practice was going to run an hour or so, Jim and I dropped him off and ran some errands. We had hoped to be back and see his time trial, just out of curiosity, but we just missed it. Not to worry. I knew Carter was wearing his stopwatch to keep track.

We didn't know what to expect since he is new at this running thing and the only time he ran a race with me, he had to walk a lot and we averaged 12-minute miles, I think. Last year, in gym class, he was timed at 9:21. I had told him before practice that if he broke an 8-minute mile today, he could have some Glazer doughnuts afterwards. Hey, whatever incentive works.

And apparently that one did.

When we picked him up, he took his watch off and tossed it to me to see his time. 6:59. Wow! Under 7 minutes! That's quite a vast and quick improvement. We were pleasantly surprised and I think Carter was, too. Now he's pretty pumped up about improving even more and, somehow, being able to sustain that pace for 3+ miles in competition.

Sure, some of his teammates finished a minute ahead of him. But we told him at least he has a starting point. For 1 mile, that is his new PR -- personal record -- and next week we'll see what his first official 3.1-mile PR will be.

It's got Mom and Dad excited ... and Mom wondering if I could ever, ever get close to that pace. Nope. I seriously doubt it. But he does have me trying the walk/running thing. And hopefully by the time it is his "off season," I'll be able to keep up with him so he'll keep up with his running.

Today that's a dream. But we both have our starting points!