The Kid and the Kick

 In J.P.'s second cross country race of the season a couple of weeks ago, he finished second when his 8th grade teammate, Cade, out kicked him at the end.  I was curious about the race J.P. ran because he stayed on Cade's shoulder, a couple of steps behind him, the entire race at USN's river campus.  Cade finished the two mile course in 11:18 and J.P. in 11:19.

The thing I really noticed was that afterwards, Cade collapsed to the ground and J.P. milled about, not really breathing hard.  I wondered, to myself, if J.P. had run his hardest or if he had coasted a bit.  I waited a few days, then we talked about it on our Sunday morning run.  He told me initially he was okay finishing second and with the race he ran but the more he thought about it, the more he didn't like it.  That, of course, was music to my ears.

Jude and I had agreed that it didn't look like J.P. had run his hardest, for whatever reason.  After our run, my message to J.P. was simply that I didn't care if he finished 1st or 50th, as long as he pushed himself and ran his hardest.  

We also worked on his finishing kick.  I told him how, in my earlier days of running, I used to finish every run with a strong kick the last quarter mile or so.  No matter how far or fast I had run, I always finished strong.  He listened and nodded, without comment, but I could tell he was taking it all in.

The day before his race last week at Vaughn's Gap I showed him a poster I have of Steve Prefontaine.  The caption on the poster is what always has spoken to me:  

"To give less than your best is to sacrifice the gift."  

I love that quote so much.  We talked about it a bit ad what it meant, to me and to him.  

Then, Wednesday as week ago, J.P. went out and won the cross country race with an 11:10 over the 2 miles course at Vaughn's Gap, one he never had run before.  Most impressive, to me, was that he ran even with Cade - or slightly ahead of him - the entire race, then kicked the last quarter mile and finished 10 yards or so ahead of him.  A really strong finish for J.P., just like we talked about and just like we practiced.  

I've probably watched the video I took of the finish of the race 25 times.  It inspires me to see my son run. To see the results of the hard work he has put in as far back as last spring and early summer.  To see him compete and, yes, to see him win.  

What impressed me the most, though, as I told him later, was that after the race, he walked back up the outside of the finishing chute and congratulated his teammates as they finished.  As each one crossed the finish line, J.P. called them by name and reached out and slapped hands.  

Encouraging and congratulating his teammates like that was a leadership move and it told me all I need to know about my son.  He gets it.  

And I get to continue to watch him grow, compete, and best of all, lead.  

I am a lucky man.