Jared the athlete

So as most of you know Jared's first triathlon was a great event. He went for a completion instead of a ribbon which was fine because the experience was more about doing something that is a little bit scary and succeeding rather than winning. I thought this was great preparation for school which he was quite nervous about and it was, he has done great in school and can't wait to go everyday. So when his school announced that they had a month long cross-country team I thought Jared would enjoy it, and being the pro-active stay at home mom I am I decided to volunteer-mostly because ellie also volunteered and I thought it would be fun to do together, but very conveniently her slip got lost and she was in Hawaii the first few days of practice and so was born Coach Sarah, that's right, I am the kindergarten cross-country coach. Coaching really hasn't been too bad, we meet 4 days a week for 45min and we mostly play running games. Jared and the other kids seemed to be having fun so all was good, until the day before the school meet when Jared who has just been hanging out mid pack tells me that he wants to win. To be honest I didn't take him that seriously since just a few days before he was telling me that he would feel bad if he beat anyone so he said he was going to come in last. Well as his coach and his mom I decide to encourage him, give him and few pointers and make sure he knows he doesn't have to win. Well win he did, and to be honest I think my pointers cost him time, but did save the other kids from being totally blown away, the kid is a runner. He did 1/2 a mile in 5:31 (that's faster than my 15 min mile pace for my triathlon). Today in practice he did it again, and with the district meet coming up in two days I am actually getting a little excited for him- okay a lot excited, the Olympics did go through my mind a few time.