More Off Season

Off season continues to roll along.  I can't say that I'm super antsy to get rolling with "real" training yet but I can feel it coming on.  I'm starting to run out of things to keep myself busy.  I mean seriously - I cleaned BEHIND THE FRIDGE (as in move the entire refrigerator and clean underneath) the other day.  Who does that?  (okay, don't answer that...you all probably clean behind the fridge every week... :)

I've also got all the "appointments" done - you know, the ones that you put off all season because there is no possible way to have enough time to do them when training hard - car appointment, eye appointment, vet appointment, dentist appointment (yuck).

And I've turned into super spectator as of recent as well.  During my last blog I was at the district high school cross country championships to root on Oscar's teams as they ran for a chance to qualify for the state meet.  Both his boys and girls teams made it which was exciting (but also expected as they've been running well all year).  I really enjoyed watching the races.  Three sisters from North Hills went 1-2-4 in the girls race to help their team to victory (O's team was 2nd place).  I positioned myself on the homestretch to see if the sisters would race each other all the way to the line or they would finish "together."  Can you guess?  They definitely fought tooth and nail for the victory.  I have to say, I probably would have duked it out with my own sister too.  :) 

They aren't triplets (they are each a year apart) but they certainly do look like it!

In the boys race I was truly inspired by a kid from North Allegheny (a cross country powerhouse in both the district and state).  I remembered from last year that he took the race out hard and built up a nice lead at 1.5 miles.  He eventually got passed and finished in the 5-10 place range.  This year he is a senior and he went with the same strategy - take it out hard and keep pushing!  At one mile he had a relatively sizeable lead.  When I saw them again at 2 miles he was in 3rd place.  Oh no - not again!  He was not to be denied though.  He clawed his way back up to the lead pack of 3 and with 200 to go he gave it everything.  I watched his face and could tell he was in a place he probably hasn't gone to before (ie: he was in a world of hurt) but he did it!  Even though I've never met the kid in my life, I felt immense pride in him for not giving up when he got caught and dropped.  One tough bugger.

The conditions were horrendous - this photo doesn't do justice to the amount of mud on the course!

Anyway, I suppose since I can't be racing myself right now, watching others take it to themselves is the next best thing!  So this upcoming weekend I'll be driving out to Hershey, PA (yes, where the chocolate is made - the whole town smells like chocolate bars!) to watch O's team at the state championships.  And then the weekend after that, it's back to Harrisburg to watch O run his marathon!  YAHOOOOO!

And because of all this talk of high school cross country, I dug up a picture of my freshman year in high school when my team won the state championship.  I'll let you guess which one I am...  :)

I can't believe this was in 1993!  :)