Running just as fast as we can

I'm running a little chronologically behind on my blogging, so I will be trying to catch up for a while.

Speaking of running & catching up, I'm going to begin my back-blogging with Ammon's Cross Country season.

Ammon has played football the last two fall seasons, but after running track in the spring, he decided to change sports and run XC this fall instead. It was challenging for him to run every day, especially in the severe smoke conditions. He got sick at the beginning of the season and developed a long-lasting cough from the poor air quality. The team ran many of their practices running down the halls and up & down stairs in the middle school. He didn't enjoy running indoors, but he maintained a positive attitude and had awesome teammates and really liked participating in this sport. He steadily improved throughout the season, and it was exciting to see his times improve.

I missed his first two meets of the season at the end of August at West Jefferson & Green River. Josh went alone to watch Ammon.

Josh & I both went to the large Tiger/Grizz meet in Idaho Falls the first week of September. Ammon got 39th place out of 192 middle school boys with a time of 11 minutes flat. It was awesome to see him run so well and ahead of so many boys!

The following week, he ran in the Challis XC meet and we took all our family to go see him run, as well as camp, at the Challis Hot Springs. It was the first meet that he brought home a medal. He ran a great race on the spectator-friendly course, and got 7th in the middle school boys division.

He ran the next week at an extra large meet in Boise. He had to qualify to attend the meet, and was one of few middle schoolers who traveled with the team to it. It was homecoming weekend, and neither Josh nor I were able to attend the race. It was one of his favorites of the year because it was a long bus trip, an overnight stay, and he liked the Bob Firman State Park course.

The last weekend of September, he ran in a meet in Arco. Josh & I both went to this race on a hot, beautiful fall day. Half the course was on road, the other half was on dry trail amidst sagebrush. It was a difficult course--a lot of running uphill in a single file on sandy, dusty surface. Ammon and his teammate Kaitlyn had started a teammate challenge about who could outrun who, and this particular race had the most exciting finish. Ammon was trailing Kaitlyn, and right before the finish line, he sped ahead of her. It was so exhilerating and was the talk of the team that day!

The first week of October, he raced at the Ririe Dam. It was a unique course, and was generally flat, but it wasn't one of his favorites. Josh & I took Kanyon to watch the race, and Ed & Kathy were both able to come support Ammon at this race, too. He got his best time at this meet: 9 minutes, 46 minutes. He was thrilled to run under 10 minutes! He earned an 8th place medal with his excellent time.

The final race of the middle school season was on his home turf, the Salmon Golf Course. He had one goal for the race: to stay with Maclay, his teammate who maintained better times than his for the whole season.  It was another beautiful day, and Josh & I once again took Kanyon to watch the race, and Ed & Kathy came to see him run his last race. He worked hard and stayed focused the entire race, and stayed close behind Maclay. It was an exciting race to watch, and his dedication paid off: he received 3rd place!! His coaches gave out the coolest medals of the season: made from deer antlers.

Ammon has really gone through shoes this year (in the past 6 months, he's gone from a size 7 to a size 9!), and the cross country season was no exception. He started in August with a brand new pair of running shoes, but by his 3rd meet, he'd already gotten holes in them.

So Josh bought him some very nice (and very expensive) Nike shoes which Ammon used for several meets.

But apparently that wasn't good enough, because he also bought himself a pair of spikes while he was in Boise that he used for two meets:

A month later, after the high schoolers' were done with their season, the XC banquet was held at the high school. Ammon's coach called Ammon "one of the most pleasant surprises this year" when he gave him his ceritificate for participation. He improved greatly throughout the season, and was an excellent team member. Ammon had a really positive experience running XC this year, even though none of his best friends were on his team; he never once felt bad that he wasn't participating in football like they all were. He enjoyed being around all the older kids, and feeling like he was a part of their group because they welcomed him so openly. His confidence and attitude were awesome during the season, and he looks forward to running again next year.