Simple moments to treasure: Cross Country: Race Two and Three

Cross country is going strong and it's almost over! There weren't but three races this year. I've never had an interest in this sport, but after my baby being in it, I am loving it!

Two Saturday's ago was Ethan's second race. It was a crazy experience. It was rainy and windy. Not only that, but the temperature from the time we left the house to the time we arrived(a whopping hour!)dropped drastically. We(I) was NOT prepared. Corbin had on a short sleeve shirt and shorts, Taya was wearing jeans and a short sleeve shirt and I was also was wearing jeans and a short sleeve shirt. In BLIZZARD weather! Well, minus the snow!

This race was a two mile race. The first one was 3.1 miles. Ethan's time the first race was 27 minutes(3.1 miles). He surprised us all this race. He finished in 15.42 minutes. That was amazing. Especially in that weather! There were 98 kids running in that race. We aren't for sure what he placed but he says it was between 20th and 30th place! That's awesome for almost 100 runners!

I can't look at this picture enough. Every time I do, I tear up.

This past Thursday was race three. I'm still in awe of what this boy can do. He was pumped and ready to run after a long day of school. There were 18 boys running this race. Middle school-ages 12 to 14. There were two boys from Tom Bean. Ethan(7th grade) and Andy(8th grade). Andy has been running for a few years and is a whole foot taller than Ethan. Going into this race Andy was the front runner and was expected to win. He did. First place! I was sure Ethan would do great but NEVER expected what happened next. They took off and Ethan was hanging with Andy...the ENTIRE time. That is until another boy purposely through his foot in front of Ethan and tripped him near the end of the course. There were spectators throughout the course watching every move. There was no good reason for the boys actions other than the fact that he wanted in second. YES, at this point Ethan was in SECOND place! Well, then he tripped and fell to the ground. BUT, he got up and finished the race! Not only did he finish the race, but he came in FOURTH place! Four(4) out of eighteen(18). The kid that tripped him...yeah, he came in second. But he did it in an ugly way. The amazing thing to me is that he stayed with an older boy who has more experience and that everyone expected to win. Andy's time(1st place) was 13.10 minutes. Ethan's time...14.13 minutes. He came in a mere minute and 3 seconds after first place EVEN after he got tripped up. I can't express the amount of proudness I have for him. I will never be able to explain it but this feeling will always be there and it will never go away.