We watched the race from our couch. The heat index in South Dakota was high enough that the races were shortened, rearranged, and pushed out to later times. So Ethan’s race was at 9:45 instead of 9:15. and instead of the men going last the college women raced at 10:15. Instead of a 6K for the men they shortened it to a 5k. Call me crazy but I’m always a little jealous of the women for getting to run shorter races. I forget what they run but I think they do either 5k’s or 6k’s instead of 8.

After tonight I realized I was going to have to switch mindsets. I’ve been thinking senior year is the year to peak and do your absolute best after getting the hang of the training and having multiple runs on all of the courses. But it makes no sense to add an infant into the mix and think things aren’t somehow going to be affected. Even without a baby, there doesn’t seem to be the ability to move beyond a certain level where everything finally clicks and moves forward. I want to just enjoy this.

And I want him to as well. It’s the whole thing that they talk about with the 18 summers as a mom. Yes the time is slipping away and you only get so much time when they’re young. But hopefully, God willing, there are summers beyond that, and races, times, and teams we’ve not yet lived or imagined. September summers are my favorite for swimming, truly the absolute best. The sun still warms you but does not beat down and heat the earth. Augustana comes and goes and returns again.