Midway Meet | Sept. 7, 2012

Madi ran in the third high school cross country meet of the season this morning.  This meet was in Midway, Texas, about an hour from Belton. 

Unfortunately, Madi started experiencing some pain {potentially a muscle strain} in her left calf yesterday afternoon which was still present this morning before and during the run.  So, this morning’s 5K run was particularly brutal for her. 

Poor thing - you can see that she’s in pain from the look on her face.

However, even with the injury, Madi improved her best 5K time by 56 seconds! Her new best time is now 29:26. Here she is heading to the finish line…

She was sad after the meet because she felt like she could've done better.  She actually cried out of frustration – that’s a first!  She’s usually happy with whatever; just an easy goin’ “I’m just here for the ride” kinda kid.  But, today was different.  Her attitude sifted and for the first time ever {even throughout all of her swimming years} I saw a spark of competitiveness in her.   And if I’m being honest, I’m happy to see it.  I love her sweet, kind, carefree attitude and I don’t like to ever see her cry, but when someone works as hard at something as she does at XC, then they should feel emotion about it – good or bad.  And plus, being competitive helps motivate and drive athletes to do their very best.   Today, I think Madi did her best – even though she had an injury, she improved her 5K time by almost a minute!  That’s just fantastic!

Pick your head up, Madi!  We’re so proud of you!  You’re training so hard; putting in so much time
and effort and though you may not think so, it shows – little by little you are improving; getting faster and faster, better and better!   Be proud of yourself - you are an inspiration!  We love you - bummed leg and all!!