Two Little Landsharks

Monday night another cross-country season came to an end.  It was, as always, a fun and fantastic season.  I love the Landsharks running program the kids do through the school.  And so do my boys.

Josh decided to join Ben again this year for the fall Landsharks series (he's still up in the air as to whether he wants to do spring track or not), and really seemed to find his groove.  He's fast!  It was fun to see him realize that he could go faster than he did last year, to notice that he could be one of the frontrunners, and then to watch him gain his confidence and go for it.  Josh ran the half-mile all three races, this is usually run by the kindergartners and 1st graders.  Next year he will have to do the mile; I don't know what he will think about that!  He likes the shorter runs.  The times for the first race were recorded all wrong for our site and I failed to notice his time when he crossed the finish line, but he placed 2nd.  We saw him go out fast and thought he'd lose his frontrunner place by the time the race was finishing, but as the leaders came down the home stretch, there he was!  Wow!  The second race he finished 4th with a time of 4 minutes, 1.58 seconds, and the third race he placed 6th with a time of 4 minutes, 13.84 seconds.  It was wonderful to watch Josh grow as a runner.  We were so proud of him!

Ben had another great season.  He still loves running, and Tuesday night he told me that and has determined that he either wants to be a vulcanologist, a paleontologist, a mathematician, a soccer player or a runner for a career once he grows up.  :)  He is going to be competing in the city-wide race next week, so the season isn't completely over for him.  The races Ben ran are run by 2nd through 5th graders.  He ran the mile-and-a-half the first race night and I happened to catch a picture of him as he crossed the finish line, so I got his time at 10 minutes, 21 seconds, finishing in 2nd place.  The second race he ran the mile so we could get him to soccer practice which is also on Monday nights, and he finished in 7 minutes, 18.96 seconds in 2nd place.  For his final race he went back to the mile-and-a-half, which he finished in 10 minutes, 13.84 seconds, finishing 3rd.  He gives it his all, he works hard, he loves it, and of course we feel so incredibly proud of Ben too!