This is Part Two in a four-part series about Sam (me) called, My Daughter, The Runner, written by Sam’s mom. Please return this week for the rest of the series.
Part Two
When Sam enrolled in high school she told me that she wanted to run for the school. We checked into sports camps for the summer before her freshman year and she signed up for a cross country sports camp. The camp lasted a week and was during late June or early July. In Missouri the temperature at that time can be in the upper 80s and 90s with high humidity. The temperature was extremely hot and we’d had to pay for the camp. Sam came home after the 2nd day and wanted to quit. She was hot and exhausted. I told her that she made a commitment and that she needed to finish out the camp and then if she didn’t want to join the cross country team that was okay.
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She made it through the camp and made friends with the coaches and some of the girls on the team. But she told me that she was only going to do cross country to get in shape for track because she wanted to be a sprinter on the team. She wanted to run fast like she had done for all those Fitness Tests.
The first few cross country meets both her father and I went to watch her. The August / September heat in Missouri was so bad that I would take bottled water for myself and a couple of times, Sam was so exhausted that I would run along side of her and give her my water (this probably should have disqualified her) but she wasn’t scoring points for the team, so it really didn’t matter. I just wanted her to push through and complete the season. I’m glad I did and was sometimes even mean to her about it, but she made it through the season and went on to track where she learned her speed wasn’t enough to be a sprinter with the faster runners on her team.
To be continued…
Hope you enjoyed part two. Look forward to part three next week!
