A Race and a Lake

I think I've already said how good Seb's cross-country team is. They're amazing. Their second-seven (JV) team often beats the Varsity teams from other schools. Sebastian, as a sometime-varsity, sometime-JV runner, has had his ups and downs this season. I'm sure it's been disappointing to him to be as good as he is and not to be the star, the consistent go-to runner, as maybe he would be on another team. But on the other hand…I think it's been good for him. I had a similar situation in high school, being on a team with the #1 and #2 girl runners in the nation…and then there was me. From that I learned that no matter how talented you are, at the next level of competition there is always someone better, so you can't hang your self-worth on your performance. A valuable lesson.

But all this has led to the delightful consequence of Seb being able to win multiple races when they are split into age groups or Varsity and Junior Varsity. And in my opinion, it is more fun to win the B race then to finish in the middle of the A race! At least, it's more fun for us to watch! :)

These pictures are from Region a few weeks ago, which was one of these happy occasions. It was really fun because it was a gorgeous Fall day, I'd brought all the kids, and Malachi and Seb were running the same race, so we got the fun of cheering for both of them—and then on top of that we got to see Seb come from behind to take first. Pretty awesome.

Herriman boys like to run in a big pack if they can. It's so good for their team unity (and intimidating other teams, I'm sure!).

Smiling Malachi, bless him. This was a hard race, too. Nice for spectators but hot for the runners.

Clementine cheered with everyone else.

More smiles. We ARE a rather big cheering section.

And here comes Seb with a big lead and a strong finish.

We were screaming excitedly!

Ugh, this last stretch is so hard! You can see it in his face! But he did it!

Then came Malachi, looking focused heading into a strong finish! He had a great race too, and promises to be a force to reckon with as he gets older. He is so tough! I think he's had the fastest freshman times of any of our boys.

Seb was in a good mood after the race, and Clementine was so excited to see him.

He carried her around while he talked to everyone and cheered for the other runners

And then he did his cool-down with her :)

Seb's deeper strategy became clear when he was mobbed by the girls' team…

And Clementine consented to be passed around and cooed over.

After that, still high on Seb's victory, the rest of us headed up the canyon to take advantage of the rest of the daylight on this beautiful day. We'd packed a little picnic dinner so we could stay right to the last minute before Daisy and Junie and Goldie had to be at youth activities.

There was construction in the canyon and we had to wait for what seemed like forever at one of those one-way-road lights. We were second in line and Ziggy kept pointing to the car in front of us and saying "That car is Sebby and we're the other guy."

I feel like we go to Silver Lake all the time, but apparently several of the children haven't even been there! What on earth? It was in fine form. Beautiful yellow aspens everywhere!

Admiring some fish

"I can walk by mine self"

(There are a mix of pictures from the real camera and my phone here. It's interesting how clear the difference is on my computer screen!)

Sillies

Ziggy was playing a game where every tree and every stump was a dinosaur. Some were nice dinosaurs (like in a zoo?) and some were mean. This log was a mean one, and he and Gus climbed right in its mouth!!

We got Clementine out of the stroller (one thing I love about Silver Lake is that you can BRING a stroller). She didn't seem as grateful as she ought to. (Do you see the tiny dot-bruise on her poor little head? I don't know how she got it.)