Elizabeth's Miraculous District Cross Country Race at Rexburg, October 18, 2017
Elizabeth's hip was really hurting towards the end of the XC season. She had to sit out one race - the Border Clash. We finally took her to Dan Struebel, our Physical Therapist. Blaine had given her a special blessing, saying in the blessing that if she really wanted it, she would be able to race without pain and do her very best, and even try to go to state. About this time, Elizabeth would have to cut about a minute off her time to qualify for state.
I was surprised, but I have seen miracles before, so I tried to just have faith. We continued to pray in our couple prayer and in our family prayer, that Elizabeth would be able to get better and be able to run her very best at the district XC race.
The day after Elizabeth saw Dan Struebel, there was a XC race in Pocatello. I heard Dan tell her not to race the next day and to wait a whole week, to rest. But Elizabeth said her hip didn't hurt anymore, she was a senior and she wasn't going to miss the race. She ran about 23:06, which was her PR! We were amazed. Carl and I had gone to watch her.
Last week, Teton had a race planned here, at the gold course by Alta. We were all excited. Unlike last year, when we ran in snow for the District race, hosted by Teton, the race was on a beautiful, warm, sunny, blue sky fall day. Around 9:30, Elizabeth text me and said that the school had announced that the race was canceled. I looked out the window, and wondered if she heard right. She said she would check with Coach Gleichman at noon. Before that, I received an email from him that said it was only a dual, meaning one other team - North Fremont, and they canceled at the last minute. We all felt sad. But in the long run, maybe it helped Elizabeth's body to rest a week (no race, but still practice).
So, today was District Cross Country, hosted by Sugar City, on the golf course by the second Rexburg exit. We were all excited. Elizabeth hadn't said anything out of the usual at breakfast that morning. We had our family prayer with breakfast, prayed she would be blessed to do her best. Blaine and I still prayed fervently for her, alone by our bed. And off she went.
I went to work on that Wednesday, until 2, Blaine and I were both approved to take off work, we went over and picked Carl up at the Middle School and drove to Rexburg. We picked up Nikole at The Ivy Apartments and we went to the Municipal Airport Golf Course. What happened there that day will go down in history. especially for our family!
We arrived plenty early; it was a nice fall day, but fairly windy. There is a beautiful park by the gold course with a pond. Nikole says she and her friends go there often, in fair weather. We found out where they would race - the route. The Teton Women's Team was already warming up. Elizabeth saw us.
We were all excited. Finally, the four teams in our district - Shelley, South Fremont, Sugar and us all lined up at the starting line. The gun was fired, and off they charged. Elizabeth was more in the front than usual.
The race route wound back and forth, the long ways across the very flat golf course. so the girls would run by and then we'd have time to run to the next spot, to be ready for pictures and cheering. The first two long runs down the path, Elizabeth was pretty close behind Ruthie Bagley and Kat Fischer, so we were happy and excited - that's usually where she runs. During the season, sometimes Elizabeth would come in ahead of Kat.
So, we kept running to the next spot. Blaine, Nikole and I got spit up, so I ended up standing by Ryan Nycamp, on the very last looooooong run from the highway toward the north, before they would all turn and head back towards the finish line. I was craning my neck, trying to see who was coming towards us. I started counting. There was a Sugar girl and a Shelley girl, neck and neck, the Shelley girl even pushed the Sugar girl enough that she almost tripped. I heard the Sugar say something to the Shelley, like get away from me.
As the counting went in my head 3, 4, 5, 6 I could see the Teton Redskin maroon jersey coming . . . I assumed it was Ruthie, but then I could see the long brown hair and then the run of my Elizabeth!!! I went wild and started cheering and jumping and screaming. "That's my Elizabeth, she's in 10th place!" As soon as she ran by, me still in shock, I took off and ran towards the finish line.
It didn't take them long to reach the end of that last long leg, and then turn back. I stood about 50 feet from the finish line and waited "with baited breath" I could not believe she had moved up about 12 spots and was #1 on the Teton Women's and was in the #10 spot overall! As I watched, again I could see the first girl coming. It was the Shelley girl, by the way, with the Sugar girl right behind her. I started to count again. When I could finally see her, Elizabeth was in the tenth spot! I yelled as loud as I could, but I'm sure she couldn't hear me, because everyone else was yelling and cheering for their person.
Elizabeth was still "hauling", but she did look exhausted, as she past me - she was still in #10 . . . and she crossed the finish line!!!!! I was just so amazed . . .
I ran around to the side where the runners go to a table and get a drink. Elizabeth was barely standing up by the table. Blaine was already there, talking to her. Nikole was there, too.
I came up to her, and she said she wanted to lay down, but Blaine wouldn't let her. From then on, for about 45 minutes, it was real struggle, trying to help her. Darling Elizabeth had given every ounce of energy to that race. I pictured every cell and molecule in her little body, just bursting, because she had exerted so much effort. She said she wanted to sleep, that every part of her body hurt, that she had a headache, that she thought she was going to throw up, etc. Poor, poor Elizabeth. Goodness, our hearts wanted to help her, but all we could do was stay near her, try to give her sips of water, try to rub her back, try to talk to her.
We did eventually get her carried off to the portable potties. She had some not very fun events there that we won't mention. About 20 minutes later, she did come out, we were able to walk her back by the ditch under some big trees, where she did kind of sit down. Nikole was kind of underneath her, Blaine was in front of her, I was to the side, with my hand on her back, Carl was behind Blaine, watching over all. Our sweet friend, Marya Moosman got a picture of this scene, and to this day -- four days later, I wept when I studied the picture. She captured all the love and adoration and amazement we had for Elizabeth, and it captured the difficult feat she had just accomplished.
Blain and I tried to catch the men's race, in between keeping our eye on Elizabeth. Ben Janus and Alex Safarin were in the top 10, and also qualified for State! We were so happy for them, as well.
Finally, after almost an hour, Elizabeth was able to stand on her own, did get her race shoes off. We all met by a pavilion for the awards. There are some really special things that I believe Coach Neil Gleichman helps to facilitate in a Cross Country Team. As we stood behind our Teton Team, both men and women were sitting on the grass together. When they started with the Women's Team Awards, to announce the Ten State Qualifiers, and they announced Elizabeth's name, to come up front, get her medal and get to stand on the bleachers to be with the next 9 girls that were named, our Teton Team went wild. Gone were the sad hearts of women that did not meet their goals, did not have the PR they had hoped for -- for that few moments that whole cross country team was one mind, one heart - it was so heart warming -- just such a phenomenal event and day and moments.
My sweet Elizabeth --- we were sooooo proud of her! She wowed us all. What a miracle and blessing! It will go down in our history books!
I was surprised, but I have seen miracles before, so I tried to just have faith. We continued to pray in our couple prayer and in our family prayer, that Elizabeth would be able to get better and be able to run her very best at the district XC race.
The day after Elizabeth saw Dan Struebel, there was a XC race in Pocatello. I heard Dan tell her not to race the next day and to wait a whole week, to rest. But Elizabeth said her hip didn't hurt anymore, she was a senior and she wasn't going to miss the race. She ran about 23:06, which was her PR! We were amazed. Carl and I had gone to watch her.
Last week, Teton had a race planned here, at the gold course by Alta. We were all excited. Unlike last year, when we ran in snow for the District race, hosted by Teton, the race was on a beautiful, warm, sunny, blue sky fall day. Around 9:30, Elizabeth text me and said that the school had announced that the race was canceled. I looked out the window, and wondered if she heard right. She said she would check with Coach Gleichman at noon. Before that, I received an email from him that said it was only a dual, meaning one other team - North Fremont, and they canceled at the last minute. We all felt sad. But in the long run, maybe it helped Elizabeth's body to rest a week (no race, but still practice).
So, today was District Cross Country, hosted by Sugar City, on the golf course by the second Rexburg exit. We were all excited. Elizabeth hadn't said anything out of the usual at breakfast that morning. We had our family prayer with breakfast, prayed she would be blessed to do her best. Blaine and I still prayed fervently for her, alone by our bed. And off she went.
I went to work on that Wednesday, until 2, Blaine and I were both approved to take off work, we went over and picked Carl up at the Middle School and drove to Rexburg. We picked up Nikole at The Ivy Apartments and we went to the Municipal Airport Golf Course. What happened there that day will go down in history. especially for our family!
We arrived plenty early; it was a nice fall day, but fairly windy. There is a beautiful park by the gold course with a pond. Nikole says she and her friends go there often, in fair weather. We found out where they would race - the route. The Teton Women's Team was already warming up. Elizabeth saw us.
We were all excited. Finally, the four teams in our district - Shelley, South Fremont, Sugar and us all lined up at the starting line. The gun was fired, and off they charged. Elizabeth was more in the front than usual.
The race route wound back and forth, the long ways across the very flat golf course. so the girls would run by and then we'd have time to run to the next spot, to be ready for pictures and cheering. The first two long runs down the path, Elizabeth was pretty close behind Ruthie Bagley and Kat Fischer, so we were happy and excited - that's usually where she runs. During the season, sometimes Elizabeth would come in ahead of Kat.
So, we kept running to the next spot. Blaine, Nikole and I got spit up, so I ended up standing by Ryan Nycamp, on the very last looooooong run from the highway toward the north, before they would all turn and head back towards the finish line. I was craning my neck, trying to see who was coming towards us. I started counting. There was a Sugar girl and a Shelley girl, neck and neck, the Shelley girl even pushed the Sugar girl enough that she almost tripped. I heard the Sugar say something to the Shelley, like get away from me.
As the counting went in my head 3, 4, 5, 6 I could see the Teton Redskin maroon jersey coming . . . I assumed it was Ruthie, but then I could see the long brown hair and then the run of my Elizabeth!!! I went wild and started cheering and jumping and screaming. "That's my Elizabeth, she's in 10th place!" As soon as she ran by, me still in shock, I took off and ran towards the finish line.
It didn't take them long to reach the end of that last long leg, and then turn back. I stood about 50 feet from the finish line and waited "with baited breath" I could not believe she had moved up about 12 spots and was #1 on the Teton Women's and was in the #10 spot overall! As I watched, again I could see the first girl coming. It was the Shelley girl, by the way, with the Sugar girl right behind her. I started to count again. When I could finally see her, Elizabeth was in the tenth spot! I yelled as loud as I could, but I'm sure she couldn't hear me, because everyone else was yelling and cheering for their person.
Elizabeth was still "hauling", but she did look exhausted, as she past me - she was still in #10 . . . and she crossed the finish line!!!!! I was just so amazed . . .
I ran around to the side where the runners go to a table and get a drink. Elizabeth was barely standing up by the table. Blaine was already there, talking to her. Nikole was there, too.
I came up to her, and she said she wanted to lay down, but Blaine wouldn't let her. From then on, for about 45 minutes, it was real struggle, trying to help her. Darling Elizabeth had given every ounce of energy to that race. I pictured every cell and molecule in her little body, just bursting, because she had exerted so much effort. She said she wanted to sleep, that every part of her body hurt, that she had a headache, that she thought she was going to throw up, etc. Poor, poor Elizabeth. Goodness, our hearts wanted to help her, but all we could do was stay near her, try to give her sips of water, try to rub her back, try to talk to her.
We did eventually get her carried off to the portable potties. She had some not very fun events there that we won't mention. About 20 minutes later, she did come out, we were able to walk her back by the ditch under some big trees, where she did kind of sit down. Nikole was kind of underneath her, Blaine was in front of her, I was to the side, with my hand on her back, Carl was behind Blaine, watching over all. Our sweet friend, Marya Moosman got a picture of this scene, and to this day -- four days later, I wept when I studied the picture. She captured all the love and adoration and amazement we had for Elizabeth, and it captured the difficult feat she had just accomplished.
Blain and I tried to catch the men's race, in between keeping our eye on Elizabeth. Ben Janus and Alex Safarin were in the top 10, and also qualified for State! We were so happy for them, as well.
Finally, after almost an hour, Elizabeth was able to stand on her own, did get her race shoes off. We all met by a pavilion for the awards. There are some really special things that I believe Coach Neil Gleichman helps to facilitate in a Cross Country Team. As we stood behind our Teton Team, both men and women were sitting on the grass together. When they started with the Women's Team Awards, to announce the Ten State Qualifiers, and they announced Elizabeth's name, to come up front, get her medal and get to stand on the bleachers to be with the next 9 girls that were named, our Teton Team went wild. Gone were the sad hearts of women that did not meet their goals, did not have the PR they had hoped for -- for that few moments that whole cross country team was one mind, one heart - it was so heart warming -- just such a phenomenal event and day and moments.
My sweet Elizabeth --- we were sooooo proud of her! She wowed us all. What a miracle and blessing! It will go down in our history books!
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