inspired by my son {and yes, this post probably sounds like an after school special}

This boy.

I am so proud of him.

So, here's the story. A few weeks before school started, I was out to lunch with a group of girlfriends. One of them mentioned how she'd become one the Cross Country coaches for the high school on our side of town.

I picked her brain.

I thought Weston might like to give Cross Country a try. He was involved in band. And he loves computers. But since I didn't want him to become the pasty kid in the basement who stares at a screen all day, I thought it would be great for him to get involved in something active, that got him moving and also let him be part of a team. My friend assured me it wasn't too late to join, although they'd been meeting for awhile and there was a meet coming up.

I came home and told Weston all about it. I wasn't sure what he'd think. The practices were at 7 in the morning. He'd have to get up super early and get himself to the school (we had a new baby and his dad was gone fighting fires). But he said he wanted to give it a shot.

I thought he might decide it wasn't for him. I know teenage-me would not have wanted to give up sleep in the summer to run. But I was completely wrong. He liked it. He wanted to keep going. Yay!

And then it came time for his first meet. He was told he had to run the three mile course in under 30 minutes in order to run in the rest of the meets for the season.

It was probably one of the hardest runs for him. His back had been bothering him a week or so before. He thought it had gotten better. But when he stretched before the race he pulled something. As he started the race, his back began to ache again. Running made it worse. It was aching him so bad that he ended up walking for part of the course. He really struggled with this race.

But he finished it.

And...he was last. It had taken him around 33 minutes.

Oh! I felt so bad for him! I encouraged him to talk to his coach and tell her about his back. And also let her know he wanted to get faster before the next meet. He did and she said he could race again.

Yay! He kept going. He went to the practices. They were (and still are!) tough. Cross Country takes up quite a big chunk of his after school time. But, still he's enjoying it.

And he eventually did the 3 miles in under 30 minutes. Which was awesome.

We've gone to all the meets we could. At every one of them, Weston has improved his time. It's so great!

Last week the meet was at Cedar High. It was the same course at the beginning of the year, the one he did in 33 minutes.

It was a bit of a chilly day...

These cute brothers of Weston's wanted to be right by the fence so they could cheer him on when he went past...

Would you like to hear what this freezing cold-looking girl asked me right before I snapped this picture?

"Mom, can we get some ice cream?"

What?! Funny girl. She didn't like me laughing at her though. Which....is why she looks kind of grumpy in that picture.

We cheered Weston on every time he went around the track. He'd shoot us quick smiles as he went past.

At the beginning of the race his stride was very small. I couldn't understand why he wasn't running with a larger stride. But at the end of the race, he lengthened out those long, long legs and took off. It was so fun to watch him go!

As he was coming in for the last turn, some of his friends who had already finished the reace ran across the field to encourage him.

"You've got this, Weston!" they shouted.

It made my little momma's heart so happy to see them cheering him on. Because you know what? He was last again. But who cares! He ran that course in 28 minutes (and some seconds...I wish I'd taken a shot of him going over the finish line with his time! Urgh.)

That's less than 10 minutes a mile. There's no way I could run that fast or for that long (right now anyway...hopefully I will soon!)

I'm so proud of this boy! He beat his own time. He said, "I didn't walk once."

And he probably could've done it even faster but he twisted his ankle at the beginning of the race (which is why his stride was so small to begin with) Maybe this course is his arch nemesis.

This has been a hard thing for him. Everyone on the team had been running together for weeks before he joined. They were already running faster and farther. But Weston still gave it a shot. And he didn't give up! He stuck with it. 

He's a pretty awesome example for this mom of his.