Catching Up

 I think I've made up for the blogs I missed during my travels. While I was catching up with all those, I spent some time at Austin's track meets and trying to figure out the best way to document his season so far. 

That boy is a wonder! I sometimes refer to him as "a freak of nature" because he keeps defying all that would be natural for a child from such a basic family who juggles many things, not just running. 

Here's a quick review of the season. I'm already forgetting details, so I need to do this now!

His first meet, while sick with a bad cold, Austin ran the mile in 4:40, a PR. He's 24th in the region for the mile, as a sophomore.

His second meet, while still sick, he ran the two-mile in 9:58, another PR.

He missed the third meet because Coach wanted him to get better. 

He then had a slightly injured hip, yet he still ran the 4x8, a relay in which each of the 4 guys runs an 800, which is 2 times around the track. He ran his segment in 2:08, which is just an okay time, but he closed up a 30-yard gap with the guy in front of him, so it was fun to watch.

The next race, his hip was still hurting, but it was the most entertaining of all! He ran the mile, didn't get a PR, but he beat the senior in front of him, who was leading by about 40 meters! He came in first in that race with a 4:43.  They both had a similar PR for the mile, and Austin heard the guy, Jack, say he was going to go out quickly and string Austin along to tire him out. Well, Austin wasn't going to fall for that. He also knows his body doesn't do well going out too quickly. He does much better kicking it in the end. So he just ran the race, feeling no rush, even with his coach yelling at him to hurry and catch up because he was letting him get away. The 4th lap, though, the guy in first probably started to tire from going out too quickly, and Austin used his reserves to kick it in gear. He passed that senior with flying colors in the last 100 meters of the track!

Finally, yesterday, Austin's hip was no longer hurting. He had to run twice at a big invitational. He stepped in for a teammate, Max, who has an injured knee, for the 4x8 with the best 800 runners on our team. There was some pressure because they wanted to qualify for Regionals, and Austin had to run faster than his previous 2:08. He did! He ran 2:06, and the other 3 in the group pulled through as well. They got 8th yesterday, so will get medals, and qualified for Regionals! Now, Max has to get better. Especially because Austin also ran the 2-mile, his best race, and got a 9:51, another PR!! He's now 11th in the region and 2nd for Sophomores in the 2-mile! I think the hardest part about yesterday was that he ran in one of the first races and one of the last of the meet. He was at the meet for 8 1/2 hours! Trying to make sure you eat and drink the right foods at the right time and stay warm enough (or cool enough if it's hot) to keep in your tip-top shape would be hard!

Here's the last lap of his 2-mile run yesterday. It's probably my worst recording because of so many heads in my way. It was a big meet, and a lot of people were there!

We're getting to the end of the season, so it'll be interesting to see how he does now. He'll be going to regionals for the 2-mile (aka 3200), and could possibly go to States. We shall see!

(Below is the link to Austin's YouTube Channel where he posted 3 of his videos. The first 2 are the very entertaining ones of him closing the big gaps!)

https://www.youtube.com/@kid_in_xc