Last year, JT drank the running koolaid for keeps. He ran on his own over the summer and when the cross country season arrived in August, he was ready. Daily practice in the company of extraordinary coaches moved him to challenge himself. Over the course of the 2016 cross country season, he ran 6 personal best times. He went from running in the middle of the JV crowd to being the fastest Varsity runner on his team. The sport fished him in hook, line, and sinker. We now buy running shoes in sets of two; he owns running shorts and a GPS watch; they go with his running hat and running gloves. You get the picture. It is also the reason that I found myself at the finish line of January 1 5k, cheering on my kid. The good news is that the race didn’t begin until 11 am. The bad news is that sign-in was at 9:30 am.
For January 1st, it wasn’t as cold as it could have been, with sun and temps in the mid-40s to go with the breeze.
JT and his day glow green shorts ran well, not a personal best, but a respectable time for a kid who is in the midst of his wrestling season. He placed 4th overall and in a race with more than 700 participants, that’s plenty good. There’s a half marathon on the horizon, scheduled for April 30. But something tells me we won’t have to wait until then for an entry in my “Things I Do for My Son” series.
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