When Derek was five years old, he joined the elementary school cross country team, Landsharks, and he loved it.  He wasn’t the fastest kid, but he worked hard and always finished with a smile.  I knew, because of this, that he would probably really enjoy it when he got older as well.  And so all summer long, Derek has been training.  He has been going for runs about six days a week to prepare, and then a few weeks before school started, he started practices with the team every weekday.  And he loved it.

Monday was his very first meet, and since it was at home, Kevin and I were both able to go and cheer him on.  (The team they were racing against had almost identical uniforms and the same school colors, which made it a little tricky to tell the teams apart.)

He loved having us there! And when he ran past us, he flashed us a giant grin – silly kid ;).

Derek did a great job, finishing 43rd out of 65 racers.  He ran the entire time, never walked, and finished strong – especially when he heard me cheering for him :).

He even gave that something extra and sprinted to the end.

We are so proud of Derek and how hard he has worked.  We can’t wait to see how much he progresses over the course of the season.