successes

We are trucking right along; very much looking forward to Thanksgiving break! Soren ran the first qualifying race for the junior olympics last weekend and qualified to run in the second race next weekend down in Brenham. Like many other activities in her life right now, that race coincides with a centennial celebration in Oklahoma that Grandma Charlotte has been working hard to coordinate. This event has had Soren's attention from the start and Grandma went so far as to sew dresses for all of us (except Pete :) ) to wear for the "1907" themed celebration. So we gave Soren the choice: race or centennial bash. After weighing the options she chose to go to Oklahoma and give the olympics another chance next year. Pete and I encouraged this because she is at the very bottom of her age group for the race this year and will do much better over the next two years. She is 8 years old but turns 9 on December 30th. You have to race the age that you will be at the end of the year, so she always has to race a year older than she is. The only day she can race her age is on December 31st and there are not many races on that day. All that to say that she races 9 and 10 year olds as an 8 year old and next year she will be in the same age bracket but will have another year of running under her race belt.

Saturday Soren had her first swim meet with the new swim team she joined in August. It was a great meet and Soren did very well. The parents are so encouraging of the swimmers; it is a great atmosphere. Soren swam in 6 events in 1 hour so it was tough. She was disqualified in the IM because she flipped over to touch the wall when she was doing the back stroke. Her coach was so great; he said you are not a real swimmer until you get a big DQ in a race. She took it well and had a great time.

As of Saturday I have completed the longest run that I have to do in my training for the Whiterock marathon. I am so encouraged and excited to have made it this far. Only 4 more weeks!