Vandegrift XC Team 2011

This is Jordan's first picture with her cross country team. The beginning of this story goes back June 6th of this year. When making her Freshman schedule for school she was very very determined to find a way that she did not have to take actual PE. Cheer was out of the question since she retired from that a year ago, dance was a consideration, but I had a crazy idea for Jordan. Jordan, do you want to try to be on the cross country team???

She looked at me and pretty much rolled her eyes and said I hate running the timed mile.

How did we get from there to here???

June 6th we hit the road running. We continued through out the entire summer even running in the sand on the beach. A mile was tough each day. Two miles got harder. There were some tears and I had some rather loud words for her sometimes. Slowly but surely she kept on going.

When we arrived back in Austin on July 18th. I had to drop her down town at Town Lake to meet up with her team. This was really hard for me as she just had to get out of the car and go find her team. She had no idea what the next 2 hours would bring for her. I was a really nervous Mom. I had no idea what to expect when I picked her up. There could have been tears and major melt downs and rather loud words for her Mom....... but to my delight and astonishment it was the exact opposite. It was all positive. She loved running downtown. So day one down and things are looking pretty good.

The next 4 weeks brought practice every day. Every day Jordan was more and more excited. What was once something she hated, slowly started to become a part of her.

This was the teams first event. Dusk Till Dawn. It was a fundraiser where they ran the track in turns from 7pm to 7am. She was so excited and loved it!

One of the first things that I had to buy for my high schooler was a pillow pet. Really?? isnt that for elementary age kids?? Apparently not-even some boys had them.

Cant wait to see what this season brings for Jordan!