My son will sometimes pretend he’s The Flash, or Sonic the Hedgehog. He loves to run.
So, when I learned that our school district was hosting an Elementary Cross-Country Series, I knew I had to sign him up.
Unfortunately, we had to miss the first meet of the three-meet series because that was the day Connor had his annual checkup and flu shot — firstly, I couldn’t justify both coming in late to work for his appointment and leaving early for his cross-country meet; and secondly, he was hobbling around all day on his flu shot leg, so having his first-ever race on a bum leg would not have been a good experience.
I brought my “good” camera with me to capture Connor’s first-ever actual race, the second meet of the series.
Connor came in 25th out of 29 kindergarten boys in the district who participated. He and his bus buddy — the cousin of one of his classmates — were the only kindergarten boys from his school who ran.
(Ferguson Photography also got a couple good shots of Connor at the starting line and Connor finishing the race. I may need to order a copy of that finish line photo.)
I was concerned that his finish might dampen his enthusiasm for the next race, but it didn’t. He didn’t want to go on any more training runs with me, though, so I couldn’t really impart any advice on his form or his strategy (as much advice as a sometimes-runner could have imparted to a six-year-old, anyway).
As expected, his second finish was much like his first: back of the pack, but he still had fun.
As I’m writing this, the evening after the meet, neither the professional photos nor the results from the third meet are posted online.
Signup was free for these races (except for the race shirt, which I missed the deadline to order). If Connor decides he’d like to run in races that cost money, though, I think I’m going to insist on some coaching from Mom!