In French nothing exciting but no homework for the weekend. In calc we had a test based on all the other tests that we have had so far. The same exact questions! I know that I got a perfect score. Physics- since I already did well on the most recent test, I didn’t have to take the retest and got the period off. Econ and English were just lecture days. For lunch, Mike and I went to Pizza Hut. We dined on a sensible meal of salad bar and bread sticks. We’ve done this a few times and it’s worked really well. At 2:00 we had a varsity meeting to prepare for the race. I still get a kick out of just being on varsity and going to varsity only meetings. Before Coach came when we were trying to figure out what our score might be. In cross country each runners place counts toward the score-add up the places of the top 5 and lowest score wins. Tom B. asked each of us where we might place and I reluctantly said 17th place. I'll be honest, I thought that I was being extremely optimistic because that would place me in award territory. First 7 get All Conference designation, the next 7 get 2nd team All Conference and the next 7 get All Conference Honorable Mention. After adding it all up we knew it would be close with our chief rivals Wheat Ridge High School and Green Mountain. Early in the week, our Coach actually said in a newspaper article- “I’d have to give the edge to Wheat Ridge (in the conference meet)”. Man, that pissed us off. We talked a little about it before the coaches came in the room.
The assistant coach took us on a mind journey through the course. By now, we all knew the map by heart. He went over every detail of the race in our minds, what we were seeing/ feeling/ thinking. I was into it! I think that we were slightly hypnotized. Anyway it was really cool and sort of weird. Finally around 3pm we loaded up the buses and headed to Clement Park. I was somewhat nervous. It had to be the best race of my life. When we arrived I “walked the course” then I stretched. The course was in and around a big park a few miles from the school. We start in the middle, make our way around the perimeter, through some parking lots, out to the west end of the park, back again and finish with a slight downhill around some softball fields to near where we started. It’s a pretty fast course. I did a few accelerations to get the legs ready.
The starter gave us the 10, then 5 minute warning. Finally, he called the schools to line up in their respective starting boxes. “Runners set!” then Bang! and we were off. I got a good start and I held strong. I felt fluid. During the race I saw a pack in front of me that I thought was the second tier pack but it turned out to be the leaders. At one point, I saw one of my teammate having trouble with his shoe. Then he just kicked it off! Mike and I were running together for most of the race. It was pretty intense. Bear Creek really mustered up some good support. Heck, even the principal was out there on the course, clapping and even shouting my (last) name. My mom was there too, screaming for us. As the finish line was closing in, I was running hard. I kicked it as strong as I ever had. The crowd was going NUTS. I realized later that it was because Mike was right on my tail. It was surreal as I crossed the finish line and they handed me a ticket with my place on it. I turned it over and saw as ‘6’ on it. I GOT 6TH PLACE!!! I couldn’t believe it. I was just as happy for Mike who was 7th. My time was 17:29 and Mike’s was 17:29.9! I’m all conference. I think this was my highest finish all year. I was the second runner on the team. As soon as I got out of the finish area Coach picked me up and hugged me. He was ecstatic. I was bouncing around too. After some quick math with the results, coach delivered the good news. Our team got first! County/ District Champs. I think he was really surprised (after picking Wheat Ridge to win and all). I am super happy with my places but in all honesty, I was busting my butt for a team win. It was our focus the entire year. We even overcame a few of the guys having off days; Mike, this freshman Dan and I really came through.
Well we did it. In fact, BC sweep districts; All the teams, Boy’s and Girl’s Varsity and Boy’s and Girl’s JV, got first place. But we are going to state! I got a lot of congrats and plenty of other hugs but the one that stands out is Andrea. That was nice. It was pretty awesome hearing in name called out at the awards ceremony and then hear “Bear Creek” be named as the Champs. We took some pictures and milled around for a while. When you have such a great moment in life, you want that moment to last as long as possible. But we finally headed home. When I got home I ate like everything was normal. Then we rented a movie to watch at my friend Pete's house. No school tomorrow but we do have a practice mid-morning. Pretty mellow end to an exciting day. All county means that my picture will go on the Hall of Fame, displaying my other achievements (not too many). I am just so happy to be alive. I can hardly wait to see my name in the papers. Oh well, I did great but life goes on, like Buck Wheat would have wanted. Three day weekend coming up, let’s make it a good one.
“Life is good......and Good is Life”-From a story I written by me.
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