Running and Charlotte Recap

Hello and happy Tuesday!

I treat this blog as a journal of sorts, and I like to capture the big and little moments in our family.

Like he did in middle school, once high school cross country season wrapped up, Hayden started his club season. He continued training and ran two races in November.

LW Memorial Distance Festival:

Hayden’s club puts on the Lloyd White Memorial Distance Festival in honor of Trav’s dad. The club director is our nephew who is a professional runner and trains runners throughout Kentucky.

This was the fourth year for this race, and there were 150 more runners than last year’s race. It’s been fun to see this race grow through the years.

There have been years where it was frigid, but this evening was pretty nice.

All the fam waiting for Hayden’s race.

I’m proud of Hayden as he asked to be put in a faster heat to be pushed a bit. This was his first 3200 as a high schooler.

My action pictures aren’t the best. Usually we watch from the stands, but we were down on the field by the track to take a family picture after Hayden’s race.

Thankfully, there was a professional photographer on site!

Hayden ran an amazing race. He ran :56 seconds faster than his last 3200 as an 8th grader. He was really happy with his run!

We snapped a quick whole family pic right as the girl’s race started. It turned out really nice. I know Trav’s dad is proud of all of his kids are grandkids!

Since Hayden was in a good mood after his race, we got some pictures. haha

…with his cousin/coach, Trav, and Mamaw!

Our tradition after the race is to eat at Boombozz pizza near campus and then head back to Lex.

Once we were home, I got a pic of Hayden in his Lloyd White race shirt. He was a tired but happy kid!

Foot Locker South Regional Race:

There are four regional Foot Locker races, and this year, Hayden ran in the south region race in Charlotte, NC.

Due to Hurricane Helene, the highway that’s the more direct route to Charlotte was inaccessible, so we had to go a different route. Since the goal was for him to run the course on Friday for a workout and to get familiar with the course, we left on Thursday after Thanksgiving in Louisville in order to be there with time to spare..

We left our house around 6:00 and drove to Beckley, WV. We arrived at our hotel around 9:00 and settled in for the night.

The next morning, we headed out around 9:00, and drove the rest of the way to Charlotte.

After we got settled in our hotel, Travis and Hayden went to the course. Hadley saw the mall next door, and wanted to use her Sephora gift card that was burning a hole in her pocket!

We walked around the outdoor shopping center before making our way to the mall.

Shew! It was busy (obviously!), but we walked around, stopped in a few stores, and then Hadley used her gift card. We took one look at the massive amount of people in the food court, and decided to eat at the Mexican restaurant by our hotel.

The walk to the restaurant was festive!

We shared this taco plate and watched the Chiefs game that had just started.

Then, we headed back to the hotel to rest for a bit. Once Travis and Hayden got back from the course, they went to the same restaurant…for the same reasons…they were hungry and the Chiefs game was on!

While Hadley hung in the hotel room, I met them and enjoyed a marg…and a Chiefs win!

Then, we had some downtime in the hotel for a bit. After that, of course, Hayden needed to “carb load” before his race the next day. We drove to “Little Mama’s,” and it did not disappoint!

Hayden got chicken Alfredo, Travis and I split this pasta…

…while Hadley reached her protein goal for the day with one meatball!! Travis helped her eat some of her spaghetti. The meatball was really good!

We headed back to the hotel to hang out and go to bed at a decent time before our early 6 am wake up call.

Once we got to the course, Hadley and I sat in the car for a bit since it was 40 degrees outside. Hayden’s race was a 8:30, so it was early and cold.

Travis told me he put my chair to the right of the Foot Locker guy. Well, that was easy to spot!

Ready to run!

My spot during the race was right by this pretty lake. This was a tough course with lots of running happening in the woods. Hadley and Travis went to a few spots to see him. I saw him run by around the halfway point and this was also at the finish.

I could tell when he came by the first time, that he was hanging in there but discouraged.

Hadley sent me a couple of pics…

…and then we were all at the finish to cheer him on.

You just never know how a race will go. Even with all the preparation, sometimes a race doesn’t go your way. (Or so they say…I don’t run. haha!) Hayden was disappointed with his performance and time, but this race includes the best runners in the region. The top 36 received medals, and that ended up putting a smile on his face and some peace with how he ended the season.

Charlotte is such a cute city! I guess this might be a yearly race, so maybe we’ll be there sooner rather than later.

This memory of Hayden running an AAU race two years ago popped up in my Facebook memories. He’s still running…and doing what he loves to do.

I know I share a lot about Hayden’s times and achievements, but as you’d expect, Travis and I are most impressed with his dedication to his training and that he is a good teammate.

He’s been running six days a week for quite some time. He wakes up early on the weekend and on vacations when most teens would be sleeping in. He stretches and foam rolls. I joke that he he has more appointments than any of us as he goes to physical therapy, takes ice baths, and even does compression therapy to increase his blood circulation and for recovery.

I wondered how his freshman season would go. I truly didn’t know he’d run varsity…and I definitely didn’t know how intense varsity races are. Obviously, he’s running a longer distance (3.1 miles) than in middle school, upperclassmen are bigger and stronger and there are more runners in the races. He’s been pushed and spiked in races, but he doesn’t give up even when a race isn’t going according to plan.

He accomplished quite a bit this season, but I know he has goals for next year too. As a freshman, I’m sure he had some nerves for most races, so hopefully he will continue to settle in next year.

On another note –Hadley started track workouts this week, and she’s sore! Hayden’s giving his legs a rest after running over 1,100 miles in 2024! He will join Hadley in the track workouts soon enough.

Have a great day!