Stephen Takes 10th; Kappy Gets Concussed

Today was like being on a roller coaster. We started out by driving 3 hours to Macon for Stephen's Cross Country State Meet. Stephen's goal was to try to win it and if he couldn't win in to at least finish in the top 10. The top 10 get medals. Number 11 doesn't. Stephen and I walked the trail ahead of the meet and noticed that there were several difficult hills. We developed a strategy and he seemed to stick to it pretty closely. He started out with a fast jog (almost a sprint) down the steep incline at the head of the trail. By the time the incline leveled off he was 4th. He said he was 5th as at the top of the first steep hill and held that position for about 1/3 of the race. By the time the pack came out of the woods at about the half way mark he had slipped to 9th. He stayed at 9th until the last stretch of the race when he gave out of gas and was passed by a kid who had finished 4th in his Regional last week. He ended up 10th.

We do have some video footage of as much of the race as we could tape.

Before the race. Checking things out. The massive throng of JV Runners.
Stephen's Brookwood Crew.
Just after the race.
The Awards Ceremony Something interesting
Had the kid at the end not passed him, Stephen would have finished higher at State than any other kid in his Region. Stephen finished 3 places ahead of the kid who beat him at Regionals last week. That kid didn't get a medal. I wonder if Stephen would rather have finished 1st at Regionals and not medaled at State or pick up a 2nd at Regionals and medal at State like he did.

The top 4 kids are 8th Graders who looked like they should have had their birth certificates checked. One of them had stubble on his face from not shaving that morning. Some of the coaches seemed upset that the top four kids were running the JV race. From what I could overhear, you can "get held back," be a year older than the kids in your own grade and still compete in JV.

Now for Kappy
After the race started Aim took off with the girls to meet Stephen at the 1/3 way mark. As she did, a group of runners who were warming up accidentally ran over Kappy. I think one of them hit her in the temple with his knee as she had a huge bruise on her left temple. She began to act lethargic and her eyes started rolling back into her head. We grabbed a bag of ice, put it on her head and waited. It was definitely a concussion. After an hour or so of waiting she finally started throwing up. Kappy will tell you "throwing up makes you feel better."

She was still a little lethargic when we stopped at Cracker Barrel to eat. I took her over to the toys section and in the middle of talking to the parrot that repeats what you say, she threw up (or "puked" to use Kappy's words) all over the floor. After that she was back to her normal self and right now she is bouncing off the walls and asking me to cook her some scrambled eggs. I better go make her some eggs.

Albany, Georgia Regionals: Stephen Finished Second

Stephen finished second in the Albany Georgia GISA Cross Country Junior Varsity Regional. We are proud of him as this is his first year running cross country. I suspect we will soon be starting another blog devoted to running as my younger son seems to love cross country as well. Stephen is the one in the middle. Great Job Stephen!