The End

 Austin's XC banquet was Friday night.  It was a potluck, like they usually do. (Kade finally realized the track and XC banquets are actually potlucks and was shocked since all the cheer, orchestra, and marching band banquets were catered at some kind of hall. The runners are really casual, which I don't mind!)

It was fun to look back on the season at all the accomplishments, which I have posted here before. No surprise, but Austin won the "Most Outstanding" poster since he was consistently the #1 guy on our team. He was also the only one to win the "Sub 16" shirt, though there were a lot of guys who won "Sub 17" shirts and one who won a "Sub 18" shirt. Progress all around! And no surprise that his friend Jack will be the team captain next year, and his friend Sam won the "most improved" award. They're all such great kids!

Austin and Coach

The State Team (sweet story about two of the guys: one qualified, but ended up being sick, so another, who is the team captain this year and a senior, got to run in his place. It turned out to be the Captain's best race all season! And the one who qualified, his name is on the shirt, and he still got a patch. Everyone was happy!)

Best Friends and "Jovial Juniors"

The outstanding freshman and the outstanding overall. 

All the juniors!

The next day was Austin's final cross-country meet of the season, even though it wasn't connected with the school. The runners have the option of competing in the Meet of Champions, which is for individual runners, but their times can count towards their season. So if they get a PR, it will be recorded as such for that season. They also have a fun tradition for those who hit a time of 16:09 during the season can be drafted onto a team coached by some incredible coaches from the area. Austin and Jack were drafted onto different teams. Austin was on the Ann Arbor Running Company with mostly seniors. He was the 3rd guy drafted. The draft is a big deal with runners tuning in from all over the state. His coach specifically mentioned the first 3 runners on her team of 7. She just said that she'd been watching him all season and was excited to have him on the team, especially since he's in the same area as her (we're only 20 minutes from Ann Arbor). 

The posted list of the team. 

The other thing about this meet is that anyone can run in the "open" runs. So I registered Erik and myself. They had alternating races between the Elite teams (Austin was in 1 of the 2), the Elite Open races, which included all his other teammates, and then the open men's and women's. Erik was in the 1st of the men's with some former teammates of Austin's and a freshman from his team. I was the only female runner from our school, but it was fun and in between Austin's and Erik's races. 

Erik was the clothing collector for the Elite Open.

The race is held at Shepherd HS every year, 2 hours away. It's a gorgeous course with some pine trees, woodsy areas, and it is very flat, so many PRs are made there. 

Austin finally got another PR- 15:39, by 1 second! He was the 3rd on his team to come in and his team won! He was only 1 slot away from winning a medal in the top 30, which he says he didn't know they were giving out medals. He assures me that he wouldn't have let the guy pass him at the end if he knew. But I think his PR and a winning team are pretty awesome! I ran pretty well myself with those young girls, considering I make better time on a 10k. I ran it in 23:28. Coach gave me some good advice of breathing more since I looked tight-lipped, which I was happy to have since I've never run with a coach before! Though I do think I wasn't very loose this race because I had a bit of a side ache coming on, and I know that too much oxygen breathed in can cause that, so then I stopped breathing in too much and then ended up not getting enough in. I had a headache to prove it, too! Finally, Erik got a PR of 19:51 and looked great for his first competitive 5k (middle schoolers run only 2 miles), especially since he hasn't run, besides soccer, since his XC season ended 3 weeks ago. 

Warming up and focused. 

In the race!

I look much slower!

My pace, while still below an 8-minute mile, looks very slow to me now!

Erik looks pretty good!

After Austin's race, before mine. 

After Erik's race. I had finished only 25 minutes earlier. 

The Open Men's runners. 3 Seniors, 1 Freshman, and 1 8th grader. 

Austin was the shortest on his MITCA team, whereas with his school team, they're all close to the same height. 

He got to hold the team trophy. 

They got shirts and a plaque, too. 

Austin and Jack with their team bibs of the day. 

It was an enjoyable, full day, and finished off with some great food at the Blue Shamrock. We drove Owen up and back, and his brother started the Blue Shamrock tradition when he first raced in MITCA a few years ago. We're happy to carry it on!