The Smiley

Nothing could quite prepare us for our first Smiley CC Invite in Wausau. First, it was hard enough getting up shortly after 5 a.m. to get Carter to the bus by 6. Then, when we got there, we realize this is the biggest event Carter has been to. 62 schools there and 19 were in Division III with Assumption.

Carter and the 3 other freshman on our boys team ran JV today. Look at this start!

That's a whole lotta runners! See Carter in there? See anyone you know? It was tough.

The way the course is laid out and the sheer number of runners made it hard to get pictures today. All of sudden runners are streaming by and there's Carter. Whoops, missed the shot. At least I could cheer him on.

They had plenty of hills today so they didn't get bored anyway. The course is set up on the American Legion Golf Course in Wausau. It seems like a nice course we wouldn't mind playing some time!

Here's Carter about 300 meters from the finish line. Unlike Stratford's uphill finish, they got to go down a hill (sort of) to finish. I looked at my stopwatch when he went by and told him to "kick it" because his time (for him) looked great.

Sure enough, while he finished 148th, he still had a PR -- shaving 6 seconds off his best previous time. Hurray, Carter!

As a bonus today, we got to see some old friends. First we ran into a guy Jim worked sports with in our central Wisconsin newspaper network, then we ran into a guy who was the photographer at our paper when I first started there (plus his dad was my college biology professor, but that's a different story).

The only person I planned to meet was my friend Julie from high school/grade school. Her daughter was running varsity for Oregon High School, south of Madison. So I got to watch the race with her and her hubby and family and cheer on Sydney. While we didn't get a chance to do lunch, we at least planned a future visit in October or November -- some time when we can sit and talk and not chase photos of our kids!

Good thing we were all "smiley" this morning, because this afternoon was a bit of a challenge. I had to take Carter clothes shopping for Homecoming. Since we are down to a few days left before we take off, this was a must-do today. And he needed everything -- shirt, tie, pants, shoes. He's outgrown anything from last year (except the tie, of course).

So we went to 5 different stores in town to get 4 items. I wondered which was harder for Carter today -- getting up at 5 to run a cross country race OR going clothes shopping with Mom! Tough call. The race was a lot shorter. If that gives you a clue.

Somehow, I'm still smiling.

(Or gritting my teeth?)