The weekend of December, 10th, Ben and I traveled to Hoover, Alabama so Ben could run in the Junior Olympics National Cross Country Championship. What an adventure! We had the best time.
The trip held a lot of firsts for both Ben and I: the first time we had been to Alabama, Georgia and, for a brief stop on the way home, Missouri; the furthest east in the U.S we've been; the first time I've rented a car (let's just say this trip exposed what a travel rookie I am). But the biggest and best first of all-- it was the first time Ben had ever run in such a huge race. We were beyond excited for it all, and it didn't disappoint.
We left late on Thursday and flew into Atlanta, Georgia where we rented a car to drive to Birmingham, Alabama, stopping at Hardee's (a.k.a. Carl's Jr.) for a late snack--because it was the only place that was open.
Ben didn't have course walk-through until Friday afternoon and we were meeting up with some friends for a late lunch, so we had a long morning with some time to kill. We decided to drive into downtown Birmingham from Hoover (a suburb) so we could see about finding ourselves some Civil Rights Movement history. Birmingham is the location of the heart of the Movement! When I entered "Downtown Birmingham" into my Maps App, one of the options that popped up was "Historic Downtown Birmingham," so we set the GPS and headed off. When we got into town, we drove around for a bit, looking at some of the cool old buildings, and decided to pull over to park and do a little walking. As soon as we got out of the car, we saw a neat old church with a food truck parked out front that had a long line and headed in that direction. Right along the sidewalk next to the church we stumbled upon the March to Government Walking Tour signs, a self-guided walking tour that took us along the route that the young black students marched in 1963 to Birmingham City Hall. As a history geek, I was pumped. We were walking and standing right where they did. It was so humbling and powerful! I should add that Ben was a fantastic tour companion and cheerfully put up with my geeking out 100%.
For lunch we met up with an old college friend, Kim Dance, and her runner boy, Braden, at Newt's, a great local-area salad, soup and sandwich place. Kim's husband, Tom, is a childhood friend of Adam's, so we all go way back! In fact, I ran cross country in high school with Tom when I was just a year older than Braden and Ben are now. So weird! It was so good to catch up. Kim is just as lovely, kind and level-headed as she was back in school. They live in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho now, and we haven't seen each other since our oldest boys were babies, so it was really fun to meet up with them.
Following lunch, Ben connected with his team for the course walk through. It got so real then! Ben would be running in the Nationals race the next day! Coach Lisa gave the team some pointers and a pep talk, and then they ran the 4k course. Afterward, we headed back to the hotel for a whole team dinner. Lisa gave another great talk to the kids about finding their inner beast, that thing inside that makes them push even harder. It was so fun to see Ben with his teammates, enjoying them and the evening. They were joking and laughing and helping keep each other calm.
Saturday morning, my birthday and Ben's race day, we slept in a little and then had breakfast in the hotel. Ben seemed to be keeping it way cooler than I felt, but I know he was nervous and excited. He didn't run until 12:30pm, so we hung out until 10 and then checked out and went to the course to watch a couple of the races before his, including his teammate/friend Caleb's little sister, Lauren's, race. Ben was still in good shape, while I felt like I was going to barf. The race time came so slowly....
At last it was time! Ben and his 13-14yo boys team went for a warm-up run and we walked them to the warm-up tent. When they came out to line up in the starting boxes, I was stunned by how many boys there were! We knew Ben was running with 440ish other boys, but it's hard to imagine what that looks like on the starting line. Some of them looked so old, like 18-year-olds! Our boys didn't get great placement, and were behind two other teams in their box. Not ideal, but it was go time! The gun fired and they were off! I saw Ben run past on the fringe of the starting horde, and that was the last time I saw him until they were finishing. I missed him on the one pass they made through the park, and the rest of the course was off in the woods. As I saw him passing me at the end, a little further back than I expected, but finishing a race at the National level, I surged with pride for him and got a little teary! Ben had done it!
Afterward, when I finally found him among the many finishers, Ben said he was happy with how he did and felt he did everything he could do to make it the best run he could. It wasn't a PR, and he finished behind two teammates that he usually beats, but he still had a great race, finishing the 4k 201st out of 439 of the top 13/14-year-old boys in the nation in 14:19. He was pushed down from behind once and had to get up off the ground among a flurry of runners trying to dodge him. He also did a good deal of dodging himself, leaping over or avoiding a collision with 6 other kids who were tripping. We always tell Ben that size doesn't matter. I mean, how many huge kids has he beaten over the years? But this race definitely favored a bigger runner. Ben said it was like a war zone and he never felt like he could settle into his race pace. But overall he was happy, thrilled and honored to have had this chance to run at Nationals, and that is all that Adam and I wanted at the end of this stellar season.
When we left the course, we grabbed lunch at Newt's again, running into the Hewlett/Boutelles (Kim, Gary, Caleb and Lauren), a family that has become dear friends over this season, was well as Kim and Braden again, too. Then we took Ben to The Male Room Barber Shop and had his power flow hair chopped nice and short. Ben had been ready for a cut for awhile, but you never know when there is power in the locks, so he kept it as a good luck charm through the season. He looked great and loved his new short 'do! Then we drove back to Atlanta for the night so we were close to the airport to catch our early flight.
Our adventures were not quite over yet! Back in Atlanta, we were going to go to the Atlanta Food Truck Park for dinner, but when we got there it was closed (no winter nighttime hours, duh), so we checked the internet for the best food places in the area and decided on a pho place that said it was "the best pho in the city." On our way there, the GPS took us a really weird way, having us get off the freeway just to turn around and go back the other direction. However, right off the exit we took was a hoppin' place called The Varsity (since 1929). Well, we knew it was meant to be! So we dove into a delicious, dinner of amazing chocolate milkshakes, onion rings, fries, and greasy burgers. Yum!
It was the most amazing birthday weekend I could have asked for and I hope it was just as great for Ben. Hanging with Ben, an incredible kid who is a perfect travel buddy, having a history-saturated moment or two, cheering on my boy while he does something that we both love and that he is amazing at, eating yummy food that we can't find at home, visiting new places and having new adventures--it was all so, so good! Know what? Let's switch that title from "a great birthday" to "one of THE BEST birthdays I've ever had!"
