The Fastest Kids in the (South) West

My weekend, in a (few) nutshell(s).

 

After school on Friday, I got my kid and hit the road. We were very excited to see our family and watch our girl run. We were very excited to spend a couple nights in a hotel...hotels are adventures. 

 

We arrived and called Aunt Di to see whether we should head to the race course or whether we should wait and see what dinner plans there were. She told us to head on out. We did. We found Miss Lucy and "pretty much her best friend" Kami and hooked up with the rest of the people. I had to follow Diana to dinner because she has a nav system and I don't.

Lucy Biles: "I beat everyone!"

Nicco was a little shy with all those crazy high school kids (they're teenagers, after all) and strangers, but he was happy anyway to see his big cousin. He smiled and giggled at her. We ate, visited, then parted ways. The racers needed to get good sleep before the big day.

Back at the hotel, Nicco wanted to sleep on the side of the bed by the clock because he was "more curious about the time" than I was. In the morning, he woke up and told me "It's 7:14 already!" so we got up, showered, packed our necessaries, ate breakfast, then headed out to the course. We got there before our family so we got acquainted with some of the other XC parents. Such good people. I had a tinge of nostalgia and was afraid I would turn into a hot puddle of sentimental tears. I kept it together for the most part.

We also watched people while we waited. XC kids are in large proportion colossal nerds. I love them. I also read team t-shirts. One said "I'm XC and I know it." Ha. One said, "We're not the Marines. We leave people behind." Double ha! One said, "Work will win where wishing won't." Nice alliteration! And, ah.

 Nicco with the sun in his eyes and his sweet big cousin Lucy.

 Lucy's coach almost photo-bombed them, but instead he pushed our girl! Such a joker.

Before the boys' race, this little 9 year-old girl sang the national anthem. It was pretty much amazing.

The boys team won their state championship and hoped to qualify for nationals at this meet. The top 2 teams automatically qualified, with a handful of wild-cards on the edge. The wild card teams have to wait anxiously for results from the other regions to find out if they make it or not.

Here's my boy watching the finish of one of the races.

And here's my boy killing time between races. He was very patient and good on what was probably a mostly boring day for him.

 (Today I'm thankful for portable technology with which to entertain small children.)

 Our speedy girls, Kami and Lucy, pre-race.

 Warming up.

 An anxious Mama and Coach at the start.

The top four runners, just beyond one mile. There were these two sets of two leading the other 220-some girls. They ran shoulder to shoulder, sometimes jockeying for position, trading places here and there. The computer chips kept live-stats up until the 2nd mile, then everyone was in suspense to see the finish. It was a blind finish, so we had to just wait until they came around the corner.

Lucy ran strong and had a solid 4th place finish. Those Colorado girls ahead of her were just a little too fast. She and the other top 5 finishers broke the course record, she ran her personal best, and she retained her title of Fastest Girl In Utah, enhancing it a bit by becoming the Fastest Girl in UT, AZ, NM, and NV. Good girl!

This is why I love Cross Country...friendly rivals. There is no "let's go stomp on their throats and kill!" attitude in XC.

The sun made it difficult for Nicco to see his i-pad screen while he waited for the awards. He improvised.

Lucy and 18 of the top 21 finishers. She qualified for the national championship in two weeks. We're so proud! She was one place out of medals, but lucky her, she did not go home without hardware. Nicco brought two plastic dollar store Winner medals up to give to the girls. It was cute.

 Here are the kids, being silly. So shocking that kids would be silly.

 Again, with the silliness.

And the runners (minus one) with their coaches. Minus One was off pouting, I think. The boys came in 4th in a tie-breaker. Their little hearts were nearly broken. But not quite, because they still have that wild-card shot at nationals.

After running races and waiting for awards and waiting to process info for nationals and waiting for everyone to take pictures, everyone was pretty much starving and exhausted. We went to Whataburger for lunch and Nicco got to sit next to his cousin while he ate his patty. He smiled and giggled. He was not the only boy smiling and giggling at Lucy and Kami. Although for entirely different reasons.

The parents took the kids back to their home base, I took Nicco back to the hotel, then while the kids played and celebrated, the moms went to see some silly movie and Diana came to visit with me. We got some good sister-time in, and I loved it. It was so much fun.

This morning Nicco wished he could see Lucy again, but everyone had a long day of driving ahead. I'm glad my drive was only 2 hours, not 12. We're home safe and the Daddy is off on his motorcycle. And all is right with the world.