For the last 8 months or so I have been raising my heels off the ground to see my oldest son eye to eye.  The truth is I have been resisting this reality for even longer.  Straightening my posture, not taking my shoes off, silly things to postpone the inevitable.  When he turned 15 a few weeks ago we measured him to make the mark on the growth wall, and I finally conceded once and for all.  He is at least a full inch taller than me, and still growing.  Thankfully, I still weigh more than him and can pin him flat.

Last month Austin began his freshman year at the newest high school in our county.  Legend High School is the third high school in Parker and was built to alleviate overcrowding at the other two schools.  This year the school will only have Freshmen in the building (along with some middle school students, but that’s another story).

Austin took a swing at joining Legend’s Soccer team and fell a bit short.  The next week he decided to join the school’s cross country team.  Now he runs every day after school, with 15 other freshman, somewhere between 3 - 5 miles.  He’s competed in four meets so far, and he is one of the most improved runners on the team.  Here are his times (spread out over a 5 week period) - the Cross Country distance is always 3.1 miles, run over various terrain, including stream beds, hills, etc.

        27:27

        24:34

        24:00

        23:50

Donna and I are VERY proud of Austin.  He is working hard, making new friends, and creating some great high school memories.  I’ve uploaded some pictures of Austin and the team on the aperture page.