Dallin's cross country team barely made it to the state competition this year. It was an exciting time for the Varsity North Gwinnett guys who had earned the right to go. After logging a crazy amount of practice miles from June to November, eating right, and getting plenty of sleep these boys were ready. They spent the night in Carrollton, GA and we met them on Saturday morning after an hour and a half drive. The race was scheduled for 8:30. This was a very exciting race because we were going to see the cream of the crop! The best guys in the state were running. Dallin made the goal to break his PR (personal record) of 17:34. We were hoping it would happen because he was not pleased with the last couple of races he ran.
Dallin warms up with his team at the starting line. They practice running out the shute, jumping, leaping...anything to keep their muscles loose and ready to perfom.
This was a high traffic area during the race. Can you find our little blonde-haired boy? He's always easy to pick out of the crowd!
The course had some killer hills, but overall was a great course. It was a beautiful, DRY day. It has been a very rainy season. Most of the races have had pouring rain and the course conditions were very wet, muddy and difficult. It's really been a challenging season.
Dallin relaxes with his team after the race.
The traditional sugar cookie snack that Dallin eats right after his race.
Dallin discusses his performance with Coach Bawcom. He broke his PR with a time of 17:25!!! What a great way to end the season. He came in 93rd out of 300 runners. Not bad for a little white guy!
We are so proud of Dallin. He has worked incredibly hard this season and really set some high goals for himself. I am amazed at the work ethic of these runners. It is an amazing sport that really brings out some high caliber kids. They are disciplined and very focused on being the best they can be. It's always about what you can be doing better to help the team. It's an individual sport as well as a team sport. We love this sport and can't wait to see Dallin excel his senior year in the fall!
PS Track and Field starts the end of February. Dallin will be racing in the long distance races. We'll keep you posted when the season starts.
I had a little funny moment during lunch today that reminded me so much of my quirky Dad. Lunch time for him was quite an ordeal. He would make his sandwich with great care and then add the side dishes, a chunk of cheese, chips, maybe a bowl of peaches or even the occasional prune. He seemed to have a great fondness of Fritos, which went especially well with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
Occasionally while digging through the crinkly bag of chips you would find a burnt frito. Oooooh. We would freak out as children when the crispy chip was found because it meant something just downright awful. My Dad always said that if you ate the chip " it would put hair on your chest." He was very serious and I took him very serious. We would laugh and giggle and contemplate whether we were brave enough to eat it and reap the consequences. I certainly didn't want hair on my chest! We were brave at times and someone would place the dreaded chip in their mouth and crunch it between their teeth. As far as I know, nobody ever developed the "hairy chest"as a child (maybe Keith! I think he stole all the burnt chips for himself in his teen age years!), but simply had a bad taste in their mouth.
