Recently, I was asked to travel to my students cross country meet. At first, I didn’t know if I should because, honestly, I am not truly the biggest sports fan of any kind. I never have been the biggest sports fan. And although some might say they wouldn’t exactly consider cross country a sport, I would disagree. Cross country kids have to work out and exercise just like you do for any other sport. And, let's take a moment for honesty, they run for hours and miles, and often many sports consider running their punishment for misbehaving. I wonder what you would do to punish a cross-country kid? But, that question is for another time.

I never knew how much fun I would have honestly watching a bunch of kids run for fun. No matter if they ran fast or slow, they still worked their butts off to accomplish the task. They kept going no matter how tired they were. It was awesome to see how encouraging the audience was to runners everywhere. It wasn’t just their runners that they would root and cheer for. It was all runners, fast and slow. And to see the kids faces light up when they heard you hollering and cheering for them was priceless. When they would hear you hooting and hollering their name, or even just clapping to encourage them, they would start sprinting or run faster and faster in search of the finish line; It was just so cool to watch.

I am proud of each and every one of my students who ran yesterday. They did a wonderful job and to see how excited they were when they noticed someone from their school had traveled out to see them. Their faces would light up even if they were trying to hide some of their excitement. I definitely want to support cross country later in my teaching career. I’m not talking about coaching it or anything like that, but just to support them by going to their meets.