The Cross Country Foothill League Finals were today and Nicholas had high hopes. He was expected to finish in the top 3 in the Soph/Frosh race. This is what he has been training for. So it was no surprise when after the first mile he was in the lead. Everything seemed to be going great and his lead was even greater after the second mile. He was on his way to winning the race. Only one hill left... And that's when it happened.
Nicholas has been having some knee problems for the past 2-3 weeks. Just growing pains but this week, all of a sudden, the pain had become pretty bad. He came home early on Monday, having cut his workout short due to pain. We started him on a regimen of icing and ibuprofen and cancelled all his soccer practices, hoping that his knee would be better for the race. And at first it looked like the ice and ibuprofen worked.
But then, while running uphill, during the last mile of the 3 mile course, he started to get shooting pain. He tried to push through it but couldn't and he eventually collapsed. He had to wait until the pain subsided a bit before continuing the race, but by then, he had been passed by at least a dozen runners. He fought the pain and managed to finish the race. But ended up with a time of 18:06 min., finishing in 14th place. Not the finish he was hoping for and needless to say that he was disappointed, frustrated and hurt. He collapsed after the finish line and had to be helped up by myself and an athletic trainer. It was heart breaking to see my son's face after losing his lead and his hope of winning.
After the race, all his teammates were very encouraging and tried to cheer him up. A lot of them said that they admired him for just finishing the race! But I think what made Nicholas feel a little better is that he still won a medal, and his team finished third. His coaches also told him not to worry, that he ran an excellent race and that it happens to even the best runners.
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