October 8, 2010

Rail Land Cross Country

Rail Land Cross Country Run
October, 6, 2010
Hanover


He rode the bus over with his friends and was hanging out in the soccer field behind the Catholic school board building when we got there.  He'd hung his coat and backpack in a tree and was proud of his innovation.  The day was beautiful - sun shinning, nice breeze, blue skies and two-seater planes overhead.  Zander was hoppy and hyper.  They ran almost an hour behind schedule.  Kids were wrestling in the field out of boredom.  It was not well organized but school spirit was high.  The older girls painted their faces with blue and white Spruce Ridge colours and when Zander's division finally lined up to run there was a mighty, "Let's Go Spruce Ridge, Let's Go!" that could surely be heard all the way to the Stork Club.  Dawnview made a pitiful effort to out-shout those Durham kids but they were put to shame and shut their mouths sheepishly.


He took off well, keeping in the middle of the pack - but as they turned out onto the gravel path he got tripped up in someone's feet and fell straight out, skinning both his palms and loosing a lot of ground.  An encouraging crowd cheered him back to his feet and he was off again, disappearing around the bend on his way to the old bridge while all the mom's along the sideline prayed that no one would fall through the big gap at it's edge.


Coming in to the finish
He was dragging as he approached the end, panting and red-faced until he heard me yelling encouragement from the finish line and he found new strength and pushed it to the end, passing two kids in front of him.


2 km.  83 boys.  He came in 54.  And proud as punch.  Me too.  Proud as punch!




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2 comments:

  1. 2K - wow.

    Just curious...do you walk through life with a running narrative in your head?

    Lovely recounting - a gift.

    ReplyDelete
  2. my brain is occupied by a little commentating elf : )

    ReplyDelete

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