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!
I’ve been on a hiatus and think I should give an update on life. With nothing really going on I just haven’t found anything to write about. Of course things have happened, but they all seem so small and insignificant at the time that they don’t seem worth mentioning. It is only in the accumulation of seemingly insignificant changes that the scope of the change becomes apparent.
HOUSE PROJECT UPDATE
Things aren’t moving as quickly as I’d like, but they are moving about as quickly as they could possibly move. We finished the wiring/plumbing/etc last week; HVAC was installed last week, and the sheetrock was hung this week. The sheetrock mudders will be in on Monday. By the end of the week we should be able to paint.
While the sheetrock was going up this week we were working on the deck that is going out the south side of the great room (going to have to stop calling it that because now it is a collection of small rooms that are no greater than any other rooms). We have the supports up and joists up. We don’t have any decking or railing on yet. That might happen this week while the mudders have us out of the place again this week.
As soon as we can get back in we will paint just as quickly as possible and then get to finishing the bathroom and working on flooring.
I will try to get some video edited of what the space looks like out to you soon!
MISSOURI/FINANCES UPDATE
We have accepted (grudgingly) that we won’t be moving back to MO anytime soon. This is sad. We don’t want to lose the property though just in case we ever do find a way to get back there.
Even though we are way under water on the mortgage for a house that no longer exists, we have still been making the payments. I’ve tried reaching the bank to see if we can work something out but they refuse to speak to me. If nothing else I’d like to get approval to lower my payments since there is no insurance on the property (why would there be?) and the taxes are going to be MUCH lower now with no home.
We have sold our cattle. They have been at a neighbors house since the fire and he took care of them over the winter. I had him haul them to auction this week and should get a check for them soon. That will help out a lot of things!
We haven’t decided how/when we are going to collect the rest of our things. I think it is feasible to have everything loaded into my storage unit and then ship the entire thing here to Utah, but I don’t have a good way of getting it all loaded. I could ask friends/neighbors to do it for me, but that seems like a big ask. Maybe my Dad goes back and does it with help. May I have to do it? Still undecided.
FAMILY UPDATE
Everyone is fine. Caitlin (15) and Joshua (13) had birthdays. Everyone is healthy and enjoying the summer. They’d like to not be working at my parents so much, but it hasn’t been bad. With frequent (near daily) trips to the pool or the new splash pad in Bluffdale they are all getting out a lot. They’ve done some hiking and sports too.
I think everyone is apprehensive about the move. We know my parents place won’t be done. We only have 2 weeks from today, so I don’t even know what state of cleanliness it will be in. But school is starting, so we will move in regardless and make the best of it. Maybe with school starting it will help make things easier for Julie and I to get things into a more livable condition.
VA/MENTAL HEALTH UPDATE
I’m surviving. I’m still going to all my regular appointments (several a week) and getting by.
I have started and completed the beginners portion of Canines with a Cause. I still don’t have my own dog but have been working with their dogs. The first part of the intermediate class that begins in a few weeks will be looking for my own dog. The timing is working out fine since I couldn’t have my own here at the Penrod’s, but can have one as soon as we move. This will go a LONG way to helping my anxiety and will hopefully be beneficial in dealing with nightmares too.
Julie is still crazy!
EXERCISE/HEALTH UPDATE
You haven’t seen any running logs since the pool opened because we stopped running. We have instead been swimming. I have the kids do laps each time we show up to keep them doing some cardio, then they are free to go play (which rarely includes actual swimming).
My exercise has been fine, but hasn’t resulted in any weight loss. I think it has trimmed up my waist a little bit (several people have mentioned it), but my actual weight hasn’t gone down. Perhaps with time.
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.
