Smiley Faces

In its 58th year, the Smiley Invitational in Wausau is actually named after someone with the last name Smiley. It does not mean that the runners have Smiley Faces when they compete. Only when they finish –  because it is a very tough course.

There were 60 high schools there with Assumption being the 59th largest. Yup, only one school smaller by enrollment and I had never heard of it. Where is Albany (besides New York)? Here is the starting line for the boys Varsity run for just Divisions 2 and 3.

They all had to run and merge together into one lane, not single file or anything, but still challenging.

For example, here are the JV girls running across a bridge right after their start. Of course, they had 500 runners in that one – a few more than Carter's race. How do they even move? Crazy.

 

Carter on his way up one of the steep hills. This course is not for sissies!

 

Carter coming down a hill, which sounds easier but it is not necessarily easy on the legs and you don't want to bang into the runner in front of you.

Kind of lucky it was cloudy and cool for the early runs.

Carter wanted to finish under 20 minutes, but his time of 20:13 still beat his 2013 finish by 46 seconds. So that is a major improvement.

This race included a megascreen for the finish so we can see their results right away. Great scrapbooking material, too, of course.

The guys checking the results. As a team, our boys finished 5th out of 19 Division 3 schools. That is so awesome! They are really coming together. Am proud of them all.

Our sophomores Tony and Connor both medaled again, too, finishing in the top 15 for D3 runners.

This is getting exciting. I am bummed I'll be out of town the next two weekends. Hate to miss anything!

At least today we were home by 1 p.m. and had a good chunk of Saturday left. In fact, by the time you read this, hubby and I will be in Green Bay, hopefully pulling off a surprise birthday party for a friend's 40th.

I'm sure there''ll be Smiley Faces all around.