After the breathtaking walk that Paul and I took (see the pics here), the twelve middle school teams (at least I think it was 12 teams) began to arrive.   Each school was allowed to select its seven best boys and seven best girls for the “varsity” race of about 2.2 miles over the hilliest (and therefore slowest) course in the region; the rest of the teams were invited to be in the fun run, a bit more than a mile, after the main races.  Since not each team had enough students to field a full seven in the varsity race, the field for each (boys and girls) was in the upper 50 range.

Coach Morse (aka the 6th grade social studies teacher!) talks to our very large team

The girls ran first....about halfway down the photo you can see a long line of girls.....far in the lead, as usual, was Camden-Rockport's Jacquie

Each team lined up in the tent, then was announced and ran past the spectators, up a small hill to the starting line; that's Eli in the middle

And they're OFF and running! Talk about a thundering herd of boys!

And away they go!

The pack of about 56 boys soon draws out into a long line headed down the to lagoon, peninsula, up the hill, up another hill, around past the start for another loop and repeat on the hills....

Look at that sunlight! What a place to race! The gray line shows the boys spread out on the trail

Heading into the woods and out to the little peninsula

On the right, our fastest runner is Ben W. Tho small, he is unbelievably fast, and has won most of his races this season!

Eli is on the left, with hair spray painted red--go Schooners!, heading out for his second loop around the course

Ben sprints up the final hill (GASP!)

This photo shows how steep that hill is. Eli is the one in red, and he actually OVERTOOK the boy in burgundy and black (one of the fastest kids in the region) on this hill! Alas, in the last 30 yards, the boy ahead in this photo overtook Eli just at the finish line!

Headed to the finish line! Eli had his fastest race of the season, on the toughest course, had his his highest finish amongst his team for this year (second only to Ben--there have been other team members who have been faster than Eli up to this race) and actually outran one or two of the kids who were thought to be Ben's stiffest competition!

Eli and Ben after the race. Ben and his twin Kyle have been Eli's best friends since we arrived in first grade. It has been so heartwarming to see them grow, mature, come into themselves as 7th graders turning into young men. Ben finished second (a boy from Belfast I think won) and Eli finished 5th!!!!!

The Camden-Rockport Girls team wins the Championship!

Eli gets a ribbon for 5th place (out of a varsity field of about 56+ boys!)

Ben W. receives his second place trophy (and I think he set a personal best time too!)

The Camden-Rockport boys win! the championship

What an incredible season!  The C-R team had such depth that many of the kids who didn’t make it into the top 7 for the varsity race were actually faster than kids from other schools who led their teams!   Even the slowest of the kids finished all the races, with love and support and encouragement from their teammates!  Mr. Morse, one of the awesome-est teachers ever, was just as outstanding as a coach.  He researched on his own time issues the kids were having to figure out what they needed…in Eli’s case, his side cramps indicated he needed to hydrate in the mornings on the day of a race.  How amazing is that, for Mr. Morse to do that for ALL of the kids?  It goes to show why they dominated and what makes Mr. Morse so wonderful as both teacher and coach.  And it was a good race all around for the Great Salt Bay course, with the winning boy (from Belfast I think) and winning girl (Jacquie from Camden) setting course records…WOW!

BOTH the boys and the girls were not only the Champions, but they both had undefeated seasons–every meet they were in, they won! And in addition to being outstanding athletes, their sportsmanship and grace were tops.  Well done to everyone:  kids, coaches, bus drivers, parents…what a season–one that will definitely go down in the school record books!

There has been so much going on, that these photos were taken about a month ago.  But Maine in autumn is so beautiful, and the kids did SO well in cross country, that they deserve a blogpost or two even if it is late!  Paul and I (at my nagging) went for a country drive the morning of the championship meet.

A typical crossroads in rural Maine. Don't blink, you'll miss it.

Rabbit Path Road (dirt). I am not kidding. That's the real name.

Sometimes the trees open up and you get a vista like this one, to the west, with the russet blueberry barrens in the mid-ground

Another byway

And one of the funniest signs I've seen ever. Yes, Mainers DO have a sense of humor!

Across from Cows**t Corner, the typical deteriorating Maine barn (still in use)

We arrived at the Great Salt Bay preserve, where the meet was being held, early, so decided to go for a walk….How glorious can the world be?????

Breathtakingly, achingly beautiful--this former farm is now the Great Salt Bay preserve. Maine is wonderful in protecting its beauty; there are nature preserves everywhere!

As you can tell, a front of crisp and wet air was about to arrive

Looking across the lagoon

From the far side of the lagoon looking back to the old farmhouse and parking

LOOK at those clouds....time to pull out Charlotte Ziebarth's book on digital photo manipulation for art quilters and play with this photo!

Part of the Cross Country race trail, mown for safety (no mole-holes!)

About 3/4 of the way around the loop we walked, looking at the march and old farmstead

Tho not the best year for color, there are still spots of brilliance

Be still my beating heart....autumn is my favorite season!

Next post I’ll actually talk about the race!

This year instead of two league teams, we ended up with just one because we didn’t (a) have enough boys to field two full teams and (b) didn’t have coaches (volunteer!) for two teams.  That meant for the first time there were cuts (SOB) to the roster.  We really miss the other boys, but my goodness this combined team has really improved dramatically this year!   They WON the Harvest Cup tournament in York over the Columbus Day weekend, a first for our area, and on October 30 they beat the PAYSA team to advance to the semi-finals and finals next weekend!

It's a big wide field to run; that's our son as goalie in the yellow shirt, far right

Sometimes it is terrifying for the goalie, but better when your team is there to help you defend the goal (Pen Bay is in blue)

The PAYSA team (red shirts) was by far the best team we have played all season. In honesty, the outplayed us the entire game, dominating the pace and direction of the game.  But in the end, Pen Bay (short for Penobscot Bay, the large inlet halfway up the coast of Maine on whose shores you can find Lincolnville, Camden and Rockport, among other towns) United won by 3-2, holding off yet another surge by PAYSA at the last minute to hang on to the win.

Sometimes it is lonely being the goalie. And cold. It was so chilly--a high of about 50 with the wind blowing--that the refs let the goalies keep on their long pants! (In Eli's case, flannel holiday jammies!)

Another nail-biting moment as the other team attempts to score...notice how well placed the PAYSA kids are to receive the rebound

The ref just blew the game whistle--PenBay had held off PAYSA by 3 to 2!

A team of very happy 13 year old boys and very happy coaches, too!

The end-of-game shaking of hands of the teams and refs

As we were walking to the car, one of the PAYSA coaches was wonderful…congratulating our boys on a win.  We allowed as how, frankly, they had outplayed us the entire game, but he said yes, but your  boys were still able to make the points when it counted and win.  Gracious, generous…and I agree:  our teams would both improve if we could play each other more during the season.

But before we left the field, the boys surprised us (the parents walking across the field to the team bench) by stringing out in a line and racing across the field, bursting through and round us:

Team spirit--after the game, racing across their half of the field in unison (sorry about the overexposure, no idea what happened)

And racing back–yes, they covered the field!

And back...thatsa lotta boys!

We didn’t have a team photo of ALL the boys (one or another was always missing before), so we got a team photo….a line of kids and coaches, and a line of mostly moms armed with cameras snapping away madly…of the 12 or so shots I got, this was the best (no one making weird faces, blinking or looking down!)

A team photo--victory!

When I first began blogging, I posted about my kids a lot, including bits and pieces of family life.  Then I got a bit leery…there are so many weirdos out there, and sometimes stalkers.   So I quit including stuff about the kids.  I miss that.  So I’m including just a little bit, and definitely blurring out the faces to protect the children!

Autumn is probably my favorite season!  I’m not wild about summer heat, and my birthday is in autumn.  I LOVE the crisp air as it returns, the smell of woodstoves burning, the crisp crackle of the leaves as they turn try on the branches and fall.  I love kicking my feet through the leaves lining the edges of our country roads (what’s a sidewalk?  I know they have them on all 2 1/2 blocks of down town, but really, sidewalks?).  Look at the screaming blue skies in this photo of the Camden boys at the starting line… you can tell from the bystanders wearing long sleeves that crisp air has arrived:

After my wonderful day with the Frayed Edges earlier this month, I drove from Bowdoinham (sorta southern-ish  to us…down south near Freeport, which is home to LL Bean and about 45 minutes north of Portland), I drove north to Searsport for a cross-country meet.  Our younger son is a born athlete as well as scholar…I swear there is not a sport on the face of the earth that he doesn’t want to try. And he is good…sometimes really good…at most of them!   After surprising us in spring with a request to try track, he wanted to do cross country this fall.

The cross country coach for the Camden-Rockport Middle School is Jim Morse, possibly one of the best of the best of teachers.  He teaches 6th grade social studies and, with his partner in excellence CRMS Librarian Kathy Foss, comes up with all sorts of amazing and wonderful ways to teach the kids. Last year Eli not only had Mr. Morse for Social Studies, but was lucky to be in home room with him.  Mr. Morse is also a jock, and on this day (you can see him in the next photo in the plaid shirt talking to the boys before the race beings) he was a bit achy as he had (WAY TO GO JIM!) just completed his first marathon the day before! WOW!  I could maybe bicycle 26 miles, but run it?  EEEEK!

And they’re off!

taken through the chain link fence...Eli took off so fast all you can see on the far right is his elbow!

Once again, the CRMS teams, boys and girls, trounced the competition.  Both teams have come in first in EVERY meet they have run this year!

My dad was, quite literally, born in the Victorian era, in 1899.  He would NOT believe what I did this week, or what Joshua did:

Yes, that is my  nearly 17-year-old with pirate-stud-earrings.  He actually tried to pierce his own ears (unbeknownst to us, in the bathroom, using a kit, an apple–behind the ear, and a safety pin).  OW! He has been after me for a while to allow this, and I of course stalled.  However, after having attempted it on his own, I decided it was time to just cave in.  I am weak.  So we went to WalMart.  Since he already had steel metal studs, he picked these…quite suitable for the son of a Fiber Pirate!
But still, my dear old dad would be (if he were buried instead of cremated and scattered outside the Golden Gate) spinning in his grave.  And yes, Joshua has a beard.  How do I have a son with earrings and beard who is nearly 17?   That vortex you hear is time disappearing at warp speed…….