There is a song by Semisonic called “Closing Time”.  One line from the lyrics of the song goes like this:  “every new beginning comes from some other beginnings’ end”.  This weekend started with an ending and ended with a new beginning, both of which were a little sad for me – yet both a part of life in general, so I need to move on.

Saturday Morning 10:30 AM…..

Saturday morning, November 11, was the end of my daughter’s Cross Country career in high school.  I went to about 90% of her meets and had a blast!  Her team had made it to the state semifinals (state group meet) for the first time in about 25 years.  It was a bonus week for them and they all took advantage by having strong races in 30 degree weather.  My daughter picked up her pace in the middle of the race and kicked it in extremely strongly to the final finish line of her high school cross country career.  I was so excited and proud that she had done so much – made so many friends and trained so hard to finish as she did.  For me I was also sad that I would not see her again run in this setting – but grateful to have been a big part of it.

Sunday Morning 8:45 AM…..

Fast forward to Sunday morning – I was asked by a running / fitness colleague to pace her at a local race under 23:00, a mark she had not hit in quite some time.  In fact, she told me she was getting slower – I joked that we are all getting older, but I was not sure what she could do until we started running.  We had caffeine shot from Isagenix (e+) before the race and away we went after the gun shot.  The pace had to be about 7:25 in order to break the mark and the first 2 miles were very close – 7:24/7:29.  Then I felt her starting to get more energy and begin to surge.  I started feeling the vibe and accelerated, always giving her encouraging words and she smashed the mark, finishing in 22:43, with a bonus that she also got 3^rd in her age group.

Sunday Noon…..

Three hours later I was running a different 5K anyway with my local NJ running club and finished a screaming downhill with a 5:29 pace over the last 400 yards to a 19:33.  I was very happy to have finished at this time, even with running around the day before during my kid’s race and the 5K earlier that morning.  Later on that day, my youngest daughter competed in a gymnastics competition and my middle daughter competed in a volleyball match for her church.  What a weekend of sports, and yet 1 last beginning for Monday morning.

Monday Morning 8:30 AM…..

On Sunday my oldest daughter turned 17 – in NJ that is the legal age to take the driving test.  Monday morning, after a little practice, we went to take the test and she passed!  We practiced quite a bit the previous days and she was ready, but this again was like a race – I was a bit nervous and excited for HER test!!    A new beginning of driving on her own lies ahead – and I have to trust that she will be careful and do it to her best ability.

Trials of Miles,

Coach Nick