My little runner...okay so he's not so little anymore!

It was time once again for Piercen's Jr. High School's 5K for spirit week.  Last year Piercen came in 2nd overall and 1st in the 7th grade.  This year he was having a hard time getting ready for it.  He was trying to wake up early to run a mile or 2, but....he is in 8th grade and waking up even 2 seconds early is quite a chore.  He did get a few runs in - but I was really nervous.  The Saturday before Trent took both boys on a 6 1/2 mile run...crazy I know!  But they both did really well and were proud of themselves.
So day of the race arrives, Piercen didn't sleep well because he was SO excited.  And of course its the same day as our 1st cold weather storm.  It was windy (I mean Tooele wind windy) rainy and cold.  15 minutes before the race was scheduled to start I called just to make sure they weren't cancelling due to rain...but they didn't. (Thankfully by ten minutes into the race it cleared up nicely for them).  I met Pierce at the starting line, helped him with his itouch and the earbuds and wished him luck.  The 1st 1/2 of the race was uphill so I reminded him not to gun it right out of the block...he didn't and was at the back of the pack when I headed back for the shelter of the truck out of the rain.  Trent and Maddie were waiting for him at the 1/2 way mark to help cheer him on....they then went to a crucial turn that had to be made in the race.  I must say that this was an EXTREMELY unorganized race...the route was terrible, they didn't have people at the turns to be sure everyone was going the correct route...thank goodness Trent and I drove the route with Pierce the night before...3 of the boys who were ahead of Pierce at one point didn't turn in the correct spot and got lost - poor kids!  Anyway - Trent called to let me know he was coming.  I tried to find where the end of the race was, but NO ONE knew where it was!  Seriously???  So Pierce came up and ran by asking where the end was - I was only able to tell him to keep going and someone would let him know.  They ended up running at least 3.3 miles in my estimation - they had them end running up a steep grass hill into the crowd of waiting kids (not that the school photographer was there in time to get a picture of him or anything!!).  Nice for cheers, horrible for ending a race!  I was so impressed with him - it taught me to have more confidence in my little runner...I was so worried that he wouldn't do as well as he thought he would.  I'm so proud...can't wait until he is able to join the cross country team this coming summer - he'll LOVE it!! :)