All Good Things

 I found Austin's interview from last week's meet and it was pretty easy to insert here, so I did! 

Not only that, but we're pretty excited about his race yesterday. I went to the Jackson Invitational with a good feeling, after watching how he raced last week at Holly. He's got all the tools he needs and he can keep up with the best of them. So when he shaved 33 seconds off his PR to get him a 15:06 finishing time, plus a 20 second crushing of the all-time Salem record, I wasn't surprised. As I've said in the past, the Jackson meet is always a fast one, so we thought he would probably PR, though I didn't think he would crush the record just yet. It all makes sense, though. Last year he ran Jackson super sick, and that was his last PR. He kept getting sick all season, so he never had a chance to really show up. Now, thanks to all the viatmins he's taking (thanks for helping, Dr. Uncle Thomas!) and the gargling, neti pot, and extra healthy diet, he's making leaps and bounds! His teammates all had some incredible PRs as well and we're so happy for all of them!

Here, you can see Austin in white on the right. He's right up in front with the fastest guys!

He came in 5th with this final push at the end!

Many happy guys with their PRs! Their team came in 4th. 

And so happy that Jack is BACK! He was struggling all of last year with some health issues.

Erik ran on Tuesday at the dual meet and continues to surprise us. He not only majorly bumped up his miles and work-out efforts in practice over the past couple of months, but he wakes up every morning at 5:20 to make it to seminary on time with Austin. They're gone almost 12 hours each day, finishing their day with their xc work-out or run. His heel was hurting a week ago, but he has managed that through icing and his gell inserts that he had during soccer when he was running in middle school and practicing for soccer at the same time. So, the gell inserts help when his mileage is high. The varsity didn't run at the dual meet on Tuesday, so Erik was our first Salem runner to finish, taking first for our JV, as a freshman, yet again. He was 9 seconds off his PR, to which he felt discouraged and kept saying he went out too fast. We assured him that he can't, and won't, PR every time and that he did so very well with the fast runners he was up against.

That's Erik with some of the varsity runners from some of the fastest teams!

A good, solid finish!

 

Brighton, one of the schools we ran against on Tuesday, is considerded one of the fastest in the state. Northville, the other team, is the defending state champ, but our team is ranked ahead of them now. Our varsity will run against them in an invitational coming up soon. Coach wanted them to be fresh for Jackson on Saturday. Our JV were supposed to run again in the JV meet for Jackson on Friday, but too many guys were sick and a bunch didn't show up on Tueday (a lot without telling Coach). It seems many of our JV aren't quite as serious as Coach would like them to be, so he pulled them out of Jackson's meet Friday. Erik was a great support and manager to the varsity and we're happy he got this time to rest and prepare fot the next meet, which is like 10 days away! 

We enjoyed the nice temperatures and sunshine at the meet yesterday. We went out to brunch afterwards with Austin's teammate and good friend, Sam and his family. Meanwhile, Kade had a fun day at the Renaissance Festival with his friends. He got good food, saw lively entertainment, and was in excellent company with his friends. He only got me one pic, though. His artisitc abilities with never cease to amaze me, even with face paint. 

My big head is blocking Jason a bit. We wore our blue proud at Bob Evans!

Kade was a jester at the Ren Fair.

Kade also has been holding down the fort while we're off at all these meets. He's mowing the lawn and caring for the kitties, among his other house jobs. Kade is also Luke's favorite person!

Victoria went to the pumpkin patch out in Idaho with her friends, and Cole. She has informed us of her success back in the dance world. She tried out and made 2 hip hop numbers, one modern, and one jazz (which happens to be the one Cole is choreographing, but he didn't choose his dancers). She said she found muscles thst she forgot she had! She's been sick this week and ended up in the ER last night where they pumped her with fluids because she was really dehydrated, among other things. Last I knew when I woke up this morning, she was home and feeling much better. When she wakes, I'll get another update. We're hoping for a better week healthwise for her, but other than that, these have all been good things for my kids.