Both Joshua and Kristie participated in another Cross Country meet. Josh continues to suffer from Osgood-Schlatter disease in his knee. Because this course was 2 laps of a city park I was able to position myself near the 1 mile point and give them their times as they came by.
My perception was that Josh was far worse in positioning than last week due to the knee pain.
Kristie appeared to fair much better on the flat ground than she did in the rocky hills at Providence Hall.
This post is late in coming because the school never sent out official results. I was waiting for them to come before I posted, but am now posting it without them. If I can round them up later I will update.
I know that I was keeping a pretty consistent running log earlier this year. But I didn’t know it would lead to this! Both Joshua and Kristie have joined the Summit Academy Cross Country team. They had their first official meat last night!
1st Official Event
Josh ran a few events with Couch School last year before our fire, but this was Kristie’s first competitive school event of any kind. This was obviously Joshua’s first event here in Utah.
The meet was held at Providence Hall, a charter school in nearby Herriman, Utah. Turns out it is actually closer and easier to get to than Summit Academy, which is on the other side of Bluffdale. Since this was so easy to get to we decided to take the entire family as a cheering section.
Teams were there competing from Providence Hall, Summit Academy (one team from the Independence campus, and one team from the Draper campus), Ascent Academy from Lehi, and a team wearing an Eagles jersey but whose school I didn’t ever catch the name of. 5 teams total.
The Race
These meets are a race around a 2 mile track. The track at Providence was in the rolling hills of the Oquirrh Mountains and inside a small ravine next to the school. The only flat section was the 100 yards where they started and ended. The rest of the course was either uphill or downhill along the windy dirt track. One section of the track was downhill enough that a few kids fell on their way down the hill. A few bumps and bruises, no injuries.
Joshua
They raced the boys first. Joshua had to wear his knee brace. Since starting to run again his Osgood-Schlatter pains resurfaced. He wore the brace and took some Advil and was ready to go.
Josh can do 2 miles on a flat track in just under 13 minutes, but with the hills I wasn’t sure what to expect. He turned in a finish of about 13:30 (unofficial) which given his knee pain and track was pretty good in my mind. It was good enough for him to finish 28th out of 100+ runners.
I’m not sure what they do with those Providence Hall kids, because I think they had 5 boys finish before the first Summit Academy runner came across. First boy finished in about 11:30 minutes.
Kristie
When all of the boys finished it was the girls turn.
I’ve only ever seen her run compared to her siblings, so I wasn’t sure what to expect of this small 6th grader running with 6th, 7th, and 8th graders. She can do 2 miles on a flat track in about 14 minutes.
She finished her turn on those windy hills in just under 17 minutes. I think her short legs had a harder time with the elevation changes than Josh did. That time was good enough to finish 16th out of about 50 girls. First girl across was about 14 minutes I think (I forgot to look).
Accomplishment
They both were totally spent when they were finished running. Kristie looked ready to collapse. I only took Joshua a minute of rest and some fluids to look ready to run again though. I’m not sure he put out as much effort because of the knee. Kristie gave it everything she had and it showed.
I think they both did quite well.
I know Josh is our best runner, but I know he’s never been blazing fast either. He finished about where I expected him to finish. I’ve always thought of Kristie as being quite fast, and given her size and age compared to the field I think it she did really well. They both have room for improvement for sure (mostly just from physical growth), but I think they should both feel a sense of accomplishment.
Side note: Kristie actually tried out for the Volleyball team too. But given the fact we’ve never played volleyball before, she was woefully unprepared for it. Volleyball is even more of a tall person sport than basketball is, and given her short stature it was going to be an uphill battle. She didn’t make it, but was just as happy to be running!
Joshua is eagerly anticipating basketball tryouts later this month!
Participants: Family minus Josh (Scout Camp) plus cousins Jake and Caly
Task: Caterpillars for 25 minutes.
Gold Star for the day undoubtedly goes to Andrew. He needed some encouragement but he ran the entire thing. He has never gone that far or that long non-stop before. I was very impressed with him. It was good to not see him quit, which is normally the problem. He gives up on hard things, but not today!
Every else did just fine. It was a nice slow pace so they didn’t quite run 2 miles. They all ran well and I didn’t hear any complaining.
This is the first time we’ve done Caterpillars without a baton to pass back. Instead, that last person would simply wait until they saw the person ahead of them finish their sprint, and then they would sprint to the front themselves. This adds more sprinting by eliminating the time for the baton to be passed back. They all handled it quite well. The added runner helped mitigate the extra running.
Overall a very good run. This is the first running log in a few weeks because we’ve been doing other things, so it was good to get back “on track.” I was able to walk almost a full lap with JR at a VERY slow pace. The time spent standing though took its toll and I was in quite a bit of pain at the end. Lifting Steven to get a drink near the end was excruciating.
I have video for you today… Enjoy!
UPDATE: new video without the music that got blocked!
As documented, I’ve been keeping track of the running exercises that the family has been doing. Everybody is doing fantastic and getting better. They all especially enjoyed the “mini-marathon” that the Central Elementary put on as a fund raiser.
This is were Istart gettingangry!
We were hoping to also let them run in the Pleasant Grove Strawberry Days 5K this summer. Julie did some checking into the registration and we will no longer be participating. Apparently the ba***rds involved think that it costs them $20 per participant to run along their city streets!?!
How the hell am I supposed to be able to afford $100 to let five family members run? $100 to use your public streets for 45 minutes?!? What are those costs covering?? Running requires no actual costs in equipment, nor any specialized skills. There are no hard costs involved since your roads being used are already paid for through the taxes you take. Can any reason justify $20 PER PERSON to participate in an event with no inherent costs?
Almost every city runs some kind of ‘town days’ event in order to bring out their citizens and provide them with some activities to enjoy together. Strawberry Days is one of those events, and is one of the longest running ‘town days’ in Utah. It is meant for community involvement! It isn’t a business endeavor or private event. Yet I’ve seen private for-profit running events, at much nicer venues, that cost less!
We know there are many events that are costly to put on that we can’t take advantage of. But running? We should be able to afford that!! Are you intentionally trying to keep the poorer members of the community out? You have priced out any struggling members of this community! Or is this also a fundraising event instead of one intended to increase community involvement?
‘Running’ a Scam!
So I’m a bit angry. The historical purpose for these town days events has apparently been abandoned. It is no longer about bringing people together in mutual activity. Or at least those activities are only made available to those with better financial fortunes than the Jensens have.
I know this is a minor ‘first-world-problem’ thing, and that many people with financial problems have it much worse than I do. But I’m mad on their behalf too. How many people would like to participate in this type of should-be-affordable community event, but can’t because the “community” has priced them out of it? There are so few entertainments that poor people get to do or participate in. Running should be within their financial reach!
Maybe I need to retake an anger management course, but I can’t tell you how utterly ridiculous I find this pricing. I’ve fluctuated between smolderingly mad and blinding rage.
Your streets are not that great PG, it is not some great prestigious event to run on them. No fame comes to the winner and no glory is bestowed by the heavens. How about next year you keep your community events at a price point that doesn’t cut out your community?
Deep breaths Jax, keep taking deep breaths and relax.
