The morning drop off went well. Early in the morning the cross country team had an unofficial practice where they decided to get together and run. Elianna and I looked out the window and of the two boys stepping out of a car were like, “Yep, those are cross country guys.” You can tell by their physiques. They are tall and lean, like the wind could blow through them. But some of them too are shorter and also strong.

They looked fast. “Oh boy”, I thought, “just what we need”. More fast guys to leave my son behind in the dust. His legs are probably twice as thick around. Winning isn’t everything but it was hard on even me to see his name come in time after time behind the others. The girls run 6K in their races, the boys, the official term is “men”, run 8K. Why is it so long? Why can’t they just stick to the much more reasonable race lengths?

The coach has everybody meet in the morning for move-in. Returning athletes are to help the new athletes move in. We meet several sets of parents in the hotel dining room, including the parents of the fast ones. They are the nicest people, trying to learn the kids’ names, and I am telling them about how you can watch the races online. Not by video for cross country, but by the live timing that shows up with live times.

They are from Indiana. One dad is planning to come to a meet on his way for a work trip. I remember now Ethan telling me about the guy from Indiana, he’s going to take the place of Calvin as the fastest on the team. The other one is fast too, he ran a sub 10 3200. More Lutherans in the Lutheran world, one studying pre-Sem and I did not catch the other. I am at peace in the move-in energy, scanning the returning faces.

The boys are standing in groups, some still walking in. Oh there’s Mason, and Adric. There’s Nate and Aiden. Trey, Caleb, Charlie, another Nathan. I’m saying all of this out loud for the sheer delight as well as to amuse and show off. My husband and daughter look at me, a huge smile on my face. What??? All you have to do is watch the names a couple of times, then look up the team roster page and you’ve got it.