Cross Country Relay

And they're OFF!

Ok, I will admit I have never been to a cross country meet in my entire life until Saturday. It seems everyone runs cross country and now I can see why. Despite the grueling summer training, the marathon length runs (at least in my book marathon) in the sweltering Texas heat on the rubber melting hot asphalt of our neighboring streets the meet was a confirmation of sorts that these kids love cross country. To be totally honest I have since discovered this was one of the larger meets they will run and it was a relay which all made it one of the best to go to. With so many girls running cross country the Scots had a lot of relay teams, the starting line had enough Lady Scots for almost a nice class full of students. If you have never been to one of these you would need to understand for the relay they have a one and half mile course set up, the starting point is also the handoff spot, where teammates hand off a glove, yes a glove not a baton. The glove adds an interesting dimension, most just hold it in their hand, believe me it looks like an over used golf glove, some brave souls actually put it on their hand and wear it so they don't drop it. That means they have to get it on their hand and then a mile and half later off of their hand, their very sweaty hand. This isn't just any mile and a half, no it is a winding couse that includes a leap over a stack of hay bales. This is amazing to watch as everyone has a different approach, some take it like a hurdle, some like stairs and some leap and roll out of the fall, I saw a few tumbles and lots of smiles as they approached it, the smiles came from nerves trying to decide whether to hurdle or walk over it with a crowd watching. It was hot and humid and just to get there you had to park on a field and cross a major street and then try to decide where the course was and were you crossing as someone was running by. All in all I had a great time and all of the kids I saw were actually smiling, cheering on each other and having a great time.

The hay bale crossing.

Smiles after a morning run.