Cassie's First Cross Country meet

School hasn't started yet, and won't until September 4th, but the sports programs are in fullll swing!

In fact, in just over an hour from now, we'll be heading out for the home opener Football game!  Wahooo :)

But back to Cassie....

Our school's setup has a 3-6 wing, a 7-8 wing and a 9-12 couple of wings; therefore we still call our 7-8 a Junior High (working on changing that to a Middle school philosophy this year though.)  Therefore, 6th graders are able to compete in Cross Country and Track at this point.  Hence, Cassie is in Cross Country this year, only 1 of 3 6th graders.

The middle school team was quite small last night;  only 4 athletes competed;  two 6th graders and two 8th graders.

The middle school runs a 2.5K race; and this course was one of the more hilly courses she'll face this year.  (UGH!  Mom knows allll about hills!  Remember Paavo '08, Paavo '11 or the dreaded Birkie?)

Being a spectator at a Cross Country meet was a new experience for Paul and me.  Thankfully, the course was designed in such a way that we had different points along the way to meet up with the athletes and give them some shouting encouragement to keep them driving along.

And one part of the course was off in the distance, but thankfully the camera has a decent zoom feature.  Look at that stride!  Gotta love downhills, huh Cass? :)

And then, around the turn she came towards the finish line; kicked it in gear passing two athletes in the final stretch to finish just over 14 minutes.

Ohhh.... I know that face :\  She was a hurtin' unit with that final kick at the end...

Coach came over and worked on calming her breathing down.....

And she survived her first Cross Country race.