Saturday was the Junior High District track meet for the season...we traveled to Graham and proceeded to watch Aspen capture two more District Championships for herself!!!! She ran the mile and a half, and the mile...and took first in both races. So very exciting to watch. She ran the mile and a half at 10:00, and the mile at 6:00. So it was a long day in the hot sun, but totally worth it. She was also a part of the mile relay team, which came in second. She had a great day and continues to amaze us with the talent she is showing.
It's definitely in the genes...with Chris being such a runner, and then I found this out too: Chris' dad, Lanny, was at one time deemed "the fastest man in Abilene"...so, running is definitely a Baber trait...
This is near the end of the first lap in the mile, with Aspen leading the pack around the last curve...
After that first lap, though, most of the girls fell off. Aspen was out front by quite a bit, and had set a goal to run under a 6 minute mile this season. She was basically in a race against the clock, and she laid it all out there in the mile. She came soooo close, it was such an exciting event!!! She ended up with a 6 minute 2 second time!!!
You can tell from her face in this one that she was giving it everything she had...
We are so very proud of her...she has had a tremendous running record for her 7th grade year, and we look forward to all that her future holds in running. She has some great natural talent, and can really go far if she continues to work as hard as she is...
So, that was Saturday. From Graham, we ventured on to Dallas for the Big D Marathon. Chris was doing the half-marathon with his friend Rolando, and Aspen was signed up for the 5k (about 3 miles). We got up very early, and were met with blustery temps in the 40s with severe wind. A drastic change from Saturday's weather!!!
Aspen did great in the 5k, with a time of 22 minutes. Out of 600 runners in the 5k, she came in third overall!!!! At 12 years old, I think that is a great accomplishment...
Chris and Rolando were hoping for a time of 1 hour 20 minutes...we were all waiting for their arrival...1:20 came...1:30...1:45...1:55...what the heck was going on???? Rolando's wife, Anna, and I began to hypothesize about what could be happening.
1. The boys could have gone off course and were mistakenly doing the full marathon or 2. One of them had gotten hurt.
Finally, a little after the two hour mark, here they came...
As Chris passed by me as I was taking photos, he told me, "We ran 19 miles by mistake!!!" A half marathon, for those that don't know, is 13 miles. The course was poorly marked, and they had some young 12 year old girls directing the runners. They had been misdirected, and ended up running 6 extra miles because of it. Oh, they were not happy boys at all! Especially once they realized that their predicted times could have gotten them 3rd or 4th place in the entire half marathon!!! Very disappointing...they came in in the 500s because of their extra six miles. On top of the disappointment, neither of the guys has been training for that long of a distance...neither has done 19 miles since last September! So, they are hurting a bit now, and will be sore tomorrow :)
Running running running...go Babers go!! So proud of Aspen and Chris!!!
2 comments:
WOW! A family of great runners...that is awesome....way to go miss Aspen...you must be so proud of her!
Way to go Aspen!! We are so proud of you. She is a beast!! She has found her thing and is excelling wonderfully at it.
That just plain sucks for Chris!! I would for sure be letting the marathon orginization know what had happened! That just sucks.
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