As the new school year dawned, it was time again to decide if we’d participate in cross country. While I’m always a bit apprehensive about jumping in because of the time commitment, among other things, the decision this year was easier. Afterall, Owen had a sweet new ride that needed to log some miles, and it was the beginning of his last year of middle school. It didn’t seem right not to finish out middle school the way we had started it. And so, we took the plunge.
Now about Owen’s new ride. Late this past summer, Owen got a Benecykl, which is actually a bike trailer that doubles as a jogging stroller. It’s nice for Owen because he can stretch out his legs, which he was no longer able to do with his old jogging stroller. I love it because it came with a proper cup holder, which his other jogging stroller did not have, and more storage for all the things we need when we go running. It also looks pretty cool, bright cherry red which my husband insists is Owen’s favorite color. It’s a little tricky, however, getting it in and out of our van when we take our show on the road, as it doesn’t fold up so compactly like his former jogging stroller did. I’m sure I looked pretty hilarious trying to get it in and out of the car at meets.
The first week of the cross country season I was on vacation from work, so we were able to go to practice everyday. It was fun seeing some of the same kids from the previous years. Back again was one of our friends from last year, the girl with the remarkable memory for birthdays. It had been a year since I saw her and she remembered my birthday for the most part. I say for the most part because she had the day and month right, but not the year. I might not have corrected her on that, except she made me two years older. I could not have that. During the first few weeks of practice, she peppered me with countless questions about Owen. Can he walk? Can he talk? Is he good at math? The last question stumped me because I think he knows more than we know, but it’s hard to tell because he can’t communicate with us. She decided that Owen was good at math.
For some reason, and I can’t put my finger on why, I didn’t feel as uncomfortable at meets as I did in the past. It didn’t feel like everyone was staring at us so much. I’m thinking that perhaps that was the case because some of the kids participating from other school would have seen us last year, and as such, we’re weren’t such an oddity. Also, there again was the mother/daughter team like us from another school. At meets, I felt so much support from the spectators who cheered us on. It also seemed like we ran into so many people we knew this year – friends, co-workers, neighbors – who came to watch their kids or grandkids compete. We were also blessed with incredible weather for every meet, except for our last meet which was hurried because rain was coming, but fortunately we beat the rain…and the bees. Apparently there was some drama during the boys race at that meet because there was a bit of a bee situation and some kids got stung. Luckily our slowness paid off this time, because we missed the bee drama.
Each year I’ve participated with Owen on the cross country team, I seem to inadvertently have a deep conversation with a middle schooler. This year was no different. On a cool down lap during practice one day on the high school track, we were walking along side a fellow 8th grader who inquired as to our time. I told him how we did and then I asked him how he did. I was impressed with his time, but he wasn’t happy with it because he was two minutes slower than he had been last year. I tried to be encouraging, asking him if he grew or gained weight, which he said he did. I told him not to worry because he was probably slower because he wasn’t accustomed to his new body yet. We also talked about school and how he was worried about going to high school because there would be more homework. I tried to encourage him again, telling him that new things can be scary and that I was sure he would do great next year. After our cool down lap we walked back to the middle school with our new friend. He asked to push Owen for awhile because he was fascinated with Owen’s stroller. We then got into a discussion about Disneyland, where he had recently been, and he talked to me about all the rides he went on there and which rides he thought would be safe for Owen. Our next practice we had to get into groups for a scavenger hunt. The boy we had talked to on our cool down lap came to stand by us to be on our team. We had done this activity before the previous year, but usually ended up getting placed on a team. This time someone chose to be on our team. I have to say that felt pretty good.
So next year Owen goes to high school and if you are wondering if our cross country career will continue there, my answer is an emphatic no. The distances will be longer, and the kids will be much stronger and more serious about the competition, I imagine. Also, I am not getting any younger and Owen keeps getting bigger. This year seemed much tougher than years past, which was disheartening. I thought maybe I was getting too old to run with him. I was able to put it all in perspective when I thought back to how much weight Owen had gained over the past 3 years of our cross country career (25lbs). Given his weight of 75ish pounds coupled with the weight of the stroller – maybe 25 to 30ish pounds – and the fact we’re doing a good portion of our running over grass, in the end, I thought I still did pretty good for a broad my age.
The end of our middle school cross country career is bittersweet. While it was very challenging to do this with Owen, it was also very rewarding. As much as I didn’t want to go to meets sometimes because I just felt like I didn’t have the energy or shouldn’t take the time off of work, I felt so wonderful afterwards because it was always such a great experience and I was happy to have the ability to do this for Owen. Also, I think it’s so important for typically developing kids to see kids like Owen in places they might not have seen them before and to know they can participate too; they might just have to do it differently. As I previously mentioned, Owen was not the only child being pushed by his mom. There was a mother/daughter team from another school who has been at the meets with us the past two years. She is also an 8th grader, so neither of us will be running at middle school meets next year. I’m hoping we’ve inspired others and that there will be other moms – crazy moms as she calls us – or dads out there pushing or running with their kids with special needs.
Finally, if you’ve read my previous posts about running in middle school cross country meets, you’ll know it’s very important to me that we not finish last. The kids this year seemed especially fast and we came dangerously close to finishing last a few times, but we did not. Mission accomplished!
I Don't Have Time for This Sh*#! 