Man in Motion

I solemnly swear that this will NOT turn into some kind of sports blog. That being said . . .

This weekend was a great one, complete with Indian summer weather and football wins for Penn State, the Eagles, and the Giants. There was a little happy to go around for everyone in this house.

Even better than that, though, was Fiver's cross country meet on Sunday. We are discovering more and more that this kid can RUN.

While Rob was away at a men's retreat, where he promptly had to perform his doctorly duties several times, including once for a particularly nasty scalp wound that went down to the bone (YEESH!), I stayed home with the kids and managed to have just enough energy to sit on the sofa with my fingers in my ears to drown out the fighting.

In reality, the kids and I had a fine weekend, with no more sibling squabbling than usual, but I was very thankful to have my sister and my mother with me at the meet. The more hands and eyes the better when it comes to my children.

Fiver, in his typical DON'T EVER CHANGE MY SCHEDULE fashion, was sad that his dad wasn't at the meet. Cross country is something that Rob and Fiver do together; I don't think I've ever been to one practice because that's a special time for the two of them.

Despite missing his dad, Fiver still managed to beat his time from last week by seventeen seconds. He broke the five minute barrier this week, coming in at 4:48. And that is still with the occasional stop to ask if he's done yet. If we could get him to run straight through, without stopping at all, he would smoke some serious second grade runners out there.

When he started cross country, we primarily encouraged it as a social endeavor. We wanted him to experience the camaraderie of being on a team. We figured that cross country would be perfect, since it was a team sport, but one that required him to compete against himself. No one would be counting on him to catch, kick, or throw a ball to score a point.


From a social standpoint, he has benefitted enormously from being on a team. To most people, it probably looks like he is indifferent toward his teammates, but to those of us in the know, we can see a big change.


Just as importantly, though, is the fact that all this running is making him strong. You would think that we would have made that connection a long time ago, but I guess we just didn't think that he would have progressed so quickly. I mean, we are talking about the child who didn't sit up until he was ONE, for goodness sake. That's some serious muscle weakness right there.

He used to finish his meets and start to cry, but this year he just stops running and looks for the Gatorade and the snacks. When he runs, he looks healthy and happy.

And I can't wait to see where his legs will take him.