Yep, that's my daughter.

I missed Maren's first cross country meet a couple weeks ago, due to the State Road Race. I felt bad about missing it, so it was an easy decision to skip the Henderson TT and go watch her race.

I ran cross country all of junior and senior high school, and today's Meet really brought back some fond memories. One thing I noticed was there seemed to be a ton of parents present. I don't remember that many parents at my meets 25 years ago.

Maren ran the junior varsity heat, and finished 12th of 45, in a new personal best time for the 4K of 20 minutes flat. She took nearly a minute off her time from 2 weeks ago, finished 4th out of Hudson JV girls, and 1st freshman.

I was so proud of her, and so glad I was there to watch and support her. I remember how much it meant to me when my parents came and watched me race. The Hudson girls have great chemistry too. They are all very friendly, encourage each other with hugs and so on after the finish, and the boys were handing out high fives. The coach was even impressed with her improvement, and encouraged her to keep up the hard work. On top of all this, they have spagetti feeds the night before meets at an upper classman's home. What a great experience for her. I'm really glad she got involved with such a great group.

Maren earned a ribbon for finishing in the top 15 of JV girls. It is the first award she has earned in a competetive event. Way to go Maren!