MY SON IS A CROSS COUNTRY BEAST

This fall I have been introduced to the athletic genre known as cross country. On a whim, the first day of school, Jeffrey decided that running cross country would be cool. So he showed up for practice, told the coach he liked to run, and off he went. Never mind that the rest of the team had been running 5-10 miles a day all summer at the crack of dawn while Jeffrey was sleeping in until noon and playing video games all day. By the end of the first week, Jeffrey was running some of the fastest times on the team. I was informed by reliable sources that my son was "beast" at cross country. This apparently being a good thing, we went out and bought him some really expensive shoes.

You know those little oval stickers with 2 or 3 letter acronyms that people display on the rear windows of cars? Do you sit there at a stoplight trying to figure out what they mean? I recently figured out that OBX stands for Outer Banks. So clever. Well, the abbreviation for cross country is XC. Who knew? Unlike OBX where life is relaxing, sandy, and tan, however, XC is intensely competitive, often muddy, and elicits skin tones ranging from grey-green to beet-red. (see photo above--Jeffrey is the grey-green one).

XC races are very exciting. A standard race is 5K, or approximately 3.1 miles. They begin with like a thousand kids all lined up next to each other on a big field. At the signal, they all start running at the same time, elbowing each other out of the way to try to get in front.

If they do no do this right at the start, then they become part of the "herd" when the trail narrows and it is almost impossible to improve their position. My son is very good at this elbowing part, and is therefore labelled an "early leader." (see photos below--Jeffrey is in front left in both)



After this initial burst, the runners completely disappear into the woods, behind a stadium, or across a swamp, depending on the terrain of the course. If you were attending a XC meet for the first time, you might not expect this. I am grateful that the Farrell girls had run XC, so Jill prepared me for this experience. The parents stand around for a few moments, and then someone usually yells, "I think we can see them coming out over here!" So, we all start migrating in that direction. Sure enough, after several minutes, the first runners emerge, looking a little more spread out now and maintaining a steady pace. Comments are made such as, "Keep it up!", "You've got time!", or "Looking great!". It is still early on in the race. This process of playing hide and seek with the runners continues for the next 12 minutes or so. You notice as you watch them pass that several are wearing braces or ace bandages to lend support for running injuries with names like shin splints, plantar fascitis, and stress fractures. These terms signal fear in a mother's soul. At the last glimpse of the runners before they head towards the final minutes of the race, the spectators now yell things like, "Don't give up!", "Keep up your pace!", "Pick those feet up!" or "Looking good!" This is my favorite, because not one of them "looks good" at this point. Pretty much they all look like they are going to die before the end of the race. Don't get me wrong. XC is awesome. Ask anyone who runs or has ever run XC, and they will tell you it is awesome. Of course, if the runner is really lucky, he has a fan club of awesome little sisters waving foam fingers that say "Jeffrey is #1!" to keep him motivated.

The parents gather to an area designated as the finish line. This is essentially a corridor defined by colorful pennants on both sides. There is a clock at the end with a big LED display flashing minutes and seconds. One of the best things about XC is that, unlike the countless soccer games we have attended over the years, XC is all over in about 20 minutes. Soon the leaders come into view, and the cheering begins. People (mostly middle-aged parents who could probably not run more than 50 feet themselves) now shout helpful advice such as, "Pour it on!", "Don't stop breathing!", or my personal favorite, "Run through the pain!" The runners start barrelling past at around 17 minutes-- first one, then another a few seconds later, then two more a few seconds after that, and then a bunch more. It is sort of like listening to popcorn popping in the microwave--pop..... pop..... poppop......poppoppoppop--only not as fun as that.

The kids walk around for awhile in a daze after they finish, the ones, that is, who are still on their feet or who are not throwing up. No one can talk, but the guys on the team nod their heads to each other and sort of grunt their approval. A couple of them can get out a few sounds like, "U PR?" Translated this means, "Did you set your personal record?" Often there are some nice girls there who offer water or gatorade to the guys while they are wandering about. The parents usually keep their distance. I think it is because it is disturbing to see your children in this condition. Once the kids on the team finally all make it in, the coach tells the ones that are conscious to go "cool down." This means for them to go run again. I am not kidding.

In XC, only the top 5 runners on the team determine the score for the entire team. Each runner is assigned points for his place in the race. So, if you come in first, you get 1 point. If your next runner comes in 4th, he gets 4 points. If the next comes in 12th, he gets 12, and so on. At the end, the team with the least amount of points wins the meet. Usually there are 3 or 4 schools competing at a meet. We are fortunate to have Charlie, one of the fastest runners in the region on our team who always comes in first place. This season, Jeffrey has made a place for himself as the number two runner on our team. At the local meets, he has consistently come in the top 5 overall. His fastest time for the season was 17:21. Last week, we ran in Districts (10 schools), and Jeffrey came in 7th overall with a time of 18:12. Since he was among the top 15 runners, he got a medal, which was pretty cool. With both Charlie and Jeffrey coming in the top 15, our team is able to advance to regionals this Thursday! We are so proud!



Our local paper has attempted to report the team's great success this season. They are quick to feature our #1 man Charlie, and always spell his name right. Jeffrey gets mentioned in there too, usually on the second page, though often under an alias. Once he was Jeffery Frieland, another time he was Jeffry Thellim, and then they were really on the right track with plain old Jeff Thelin when he was nominated by his coach as Athlete of the Month. Most recently, though, he was given credit as Jeremy Thelin. So, we will see what happens this week.

We think they should just call him "BEAST."