Pumpkin Run

Elizabeth's last cross country race of the season was the Pumpkin Run, a 5K put on by the Hartford Marathon Foundation.  Her longest training run was 2 miles and that was with me in early September, so she was very nervous about being about to make it the entire way.  Also, the course was very challenging - all hills, all the time.  The school encouraged parents to register to run as well and many of us did, so I promised to run the race with her.  She did a great job, stayed with me the entire time (it helped that I did a long run the day before, so had tired legs) and ending up as the first female finisher for her school with a time of 28:07.  I would love to see what she can do on a flat course.

Pre-race selfie.

6th graders!

Being silly.

JPII Cross Country

With Lauren and Laila, some of the best people I know.

Post-race selfie - on our way to Dunkin Donuts for a celebratory coolata!

Regional Honors Band

In September, Elizabeth was invited to audition for the Connecticut Future Musicians Regional Honors Band.  The regional bands are smaller versions of the All State program that she was part of last spring.  She auditioned for and was accepted into the Regional Honors Band for the southern part of the state, one of 40 students accepted and the only representative from her school.  She attended two hour rehearsals every Friday evening and Saturday morning for a month - and it was hard.  The music was difficult and the other members of the band were very, very good.  She was the 10th chair out of 12 in the flute section, which was a bit humbling for her.  She initially struggled with the music but practiced 30-45 minutes every day and eventually, got it all.  The performance was on October 17th and I have to say, it was quite excellent.  The videos below are of 6th-8th graders - it's impressive.

Elizabeth and her school band director, who was one of the conductors.

The only representative from JPII.

One of my favorites, videoed during the last rehearsal.  

 

19th Annual Power Challenge: Boston

Team Refuge put on a show at the 19th Annual Power Challenge in Boston:

September Odds and Ends

Some September odds and ends:

Formal Uniforms!

Last ice cream of the summer.

First baby-sitting gig.  It was at 6:30 am, but she took care of four kids for 1 1/2 hours.  She's ready for more!!

The ultimate lambie!

Just a girl and her dog....

Durham Fair fun.

Chasing PRs

Last Sunday, Lee competed at the 19th Annual Power Challenge: Boston.  Although late summer and early fall is a very challenging and busy time at our house, he was able to get in some really good training and had high hopes going into the competition.  After attending a wedding in New Hampshire on Friday night, he left his parents' house at 5:30 am and drove down to Boston to weigh in on Saturday morning. He then drove back to Connecticut and early Sunday morning (another 5:30 am start), we drove up to Boston.  Despite going one for three in the squat, he got a new personal best of 610 lbs.  Bench has been his Achilles heel for a while and Sunday was no exception - he also went one for three, benching 375 lbs.  He was able to pull 590 lbs, good enough for a new personal best in dead lift.  His total of 1575 lbs. was also a new personal best.
Although he was initially disappointed, Lee has come around to the fact that it wasn't a wasted day.  He fell short of the goals that he set for himself, but yet still did better than he'd ever done before.  During the meet, our friend Nick pointed out that when you are always chasing PRs (always trying to do better than the last competition, never settling for what you've already accomplished), these competitions are extremely difficult.  On Monday morning, Greg Panora (one of the greatest powerlifters of all time), who lifted as part of The Refuge on Sunday, posted a great line on Facebook: "Powerlifting is not a sport of how much u can do, it's a sport of how much can u do on that day."  Regardless of what you can do in training, it all comes down to what you can pull together over 9 lifts on one long day.  We are incredibly proud of all that Lee has accomplished.

Lee actually missed his opener of 575 lbs. (the judges said that he didn't break parallel) and in a genius move, Nick stuck with their plan and moved him right up to 610 lbs.  "We didn't come here to lift less than 600 lbs."

Independent Day School Invitational

Thursday afternoon, the JPII Cross Country team participated in its last team meet of the season and they definitely saved the best for last!  A 7th grade girl who hasn't been able to make any of the other races placed first and the girls team placed 4th overall.  Our Elizabeth was the second finisher for her team, placing 20 out of 52, her best place and fastest time yet - 1.8 miles in 13:00 (that's a 7:13 pace people!!  Two weeks ago, she was running a leisurely 9:05 pace)!  We are very proud of her for working hard and getting better and better with every race.  I still do not think that she has figured out how to "run" a race, but these things take time and it is really great to see how much she is progressing.  She has one race left - a 5K - and I'm interested to see how she does with it.

CFC Columbus Day Weekend Tournament

Emily and her Sporting team played in the CFC Columbus Day Classic over the weekend.  Much to our dismay, she played a half of goalie in each game, a position she hasn't played since May.  She did a pretty good job in net, especially on Sunday.  After the two games at Saturday, she asked to do some goalie work so she and I went to a nearby field and worked for almost 90 minutes.  She was much tougher on Sunday.  Her time in the field was spent in a different position than she is used to, so she was a bit uncomfortable, but played well nevertheless.  She loves tournaments, so was happy all weekend!

She loves to score so the only good thing about playing defense is that she gets to take all of the throw ins.

Her coach was in Florida at his best friend's wedding, so other Sporting coaches pinch hit for him.

Post game talk.

Wickham Park Invitational

Yesterday, Elizabeth and her cross country teammates ran in the Wickham Park Invitational in Manchester, Connecticut.  The course is 1.8 miles and is extremely hilly - both the start and the finish are uphill and apparently, most of the trails are uphill as well.  Every boy and every girl had a look of pain on their face as they headed into the last 1/4 mile.  Elizabeth did very well - she did not place high (combined, 6th, 7th, and 8th grade race), but she ran at an 8:25 pace over the difficult course, more than 30 seconds faster than her pace in the first race (which was on a much easier course).  She was spent when it was done and she definitely gave it her all.  We are very proud of her.

The girls, warming up during the boys race.

 

The team!

September Magic

Emily's Magic team played three league games in September (in addition to the tournament and one friendly match).  They came from behind to beat West Hartford (stunning them, as WH was the one loss during the tournament) and then won their next two games as well.  For the most part, Emily has been playing well, but more importantly, so have all of her teammates. Watching them come together, adapt to new positions, and grow as a team has been a great experience as a parent.  I think that the parents are enjoying themselves as much as the girls!