Today I witness my youngest son run his last Cross Country Meet. There is still track so my days as a parent spectator are not over, but XC has a special place in my heart.
Dropped my son off at school before the bus left at 7:45 AM but no one was there yet.
Girls were running at 10AM so we wanted to be there for them, so we left at 8:45 and got there with about 30 minutes to spare.
I was nervous that my son wasn’t going to crack 19 minutes, but he did. He didn’t qualify for state, but I knew there was a sub 19 in him and it just needed to come out.
Which leads me to this unusual open letter which I do not think any of my kids will read.
Open Letter To My XC Kids
Originally this letter was just going to be for you my youngest, but this is for all of you
Starting with you my oldest son, I wish I got you into the sport your freshman year, but you trailblazed and showed me, what fund XC could be.
To my oldest daughter, you really showed what running passion was, you made it to state twice at XC, I know you could have made it to State in Track if it weren’t for Covid.
To my youngest daughter, I know I forced you to run XC your freshman year, but you came back your senior year. I am grateful you did, since Covid cut off your chances to go to State in Spring Tennis.
And to my youngest son, you cap the XC experience for me. Look at how you improved.
But that so reflects your growth I hope you see that. When you started XC it was weird, it was actually 2021 not 2020. XC was in Spring, you PR’d at 37:23 in 2021 spring. You must have hated it when I forced you to run again in Fall 2021, but look at your times. From Spring 2021 to Fall 2021.
I recall you hated having to run districts, you just wanted to hang out, but I think that qualifies you for Varsity. You were so upset you had to run some more.
In 2022, I did not require you to run, you did it as your own volition. You didn’t crack 20 minutes, and you were upset you didn’t. There is a genuine change in you that was impossible to not see. You had a passion in running.
And now, today, at your final race, I knew you weren’t going to State, we both knew. You could have just cracked 20 like I wanted you to, but you showed heart and cracked 19.
You went from a kid that was called into the VP office for, emotional outbursts, a kid that was behind in reading. I kid that didn’t want to go to school.
To a Co Captain on the XC team, the fastest 5k runner in your class. I kid that got A’s the occasional B, and only 1 C in a class that challenged you.
Thank you for the gift of showing me your heart.
Ok that is all, just wanted to post me weight, and yes I got my fitbit goals too.
Weight: 343.6