Cross Country

Kari wrestled all spring and summer with the decision of whether or not to try out for the high school soccer team. She went to the work-outs and practices (and didn't love it), and then when the cross country team started practicing August 1st, she thought she'd give that a try. After the first day, she got in the car and said she "really liked it." After about a week of doing both, she decided she wanted to do cross country and not try out for soccer. She went to all the practices, even when she didn't have good friends going with her, which told us she really did like it.  Cross country ended up being a very good experience for Kari and a great way to start off her high school career. She ran JV some races and Varsity a few races and did really well. The last meet, the district meet, was the most exciting race as Kari blew past several competitors towards the end and PR'd by 42 seconds! Her time was 23:14. We are looking forward to watching her run and push herself again next fall. She tried something new and even though it was difficult sometimes--socially, physically, mentally--she persevered and was brave. She made us proud!

One of her coaches is a photographer and took tons of photos of every race and shared them on FB for us. So nice! All but the first one, at home right before her first race, were taken by him.