Let's Hear It for the Boy!

Marcus deserves a standing ovation.  This kid has done the impossible by finishing both track and lacrosse season simultaneously.  We don't know anyone who has been able to do it that didn't quit halfway through the season.  Only a crazy person would try to take this on but when you love two sports and they are both in the spring you do what you have to do and then pray really hard for a miracle.

Starting back in February, Marcus got up for early morning seminary at 5:30am, went to school until 3:00, then went straight to track practice.  I'd pick him up from track so he could come home and grab some food and throw on his lax gear and then he'd head back to lacrosse practice.  Sometimes practices overlapped enough that he couldn't even come home in between practices so he wouldn't get a break at all.  Lax practice usually ended around 9:00pm and then Marcus would come home to start his homework.  He kept up this grueling schedule for months! He really learned to manage his time well and got a lot of his homework done at school so he'd just have to study or work on projects after practices.  There were a few low points when the stress nearly did him in and his grades are definitely less than what he/we wants but he's doing better than he did first semester without all the sports.

Track season was rough though.  The track coach is known for being difficult.  She doesn't allow kids to play any other sport if they run track and she doesn't want them working with any trainers either.  Two strikes for Marcus because he does both.  She found out Marcus was playing lacrosse and punished him by not allowing him to run on the relay team that is made up of the four fastest runners.  She said she couldn't count on him and that he'd probably get injured from lax and his relay team needed someone reliable so she bumped him off.  Ironically, the only injury Marcus had was from track!  He pulled his hip early in the season during an easy workout and it never had a chance to heal until he could rest it over spring break.  But he kept at track anyway, with his times improving at every meet.  His trainer would come to the meets and sit in the visitor section or stay in the parking lot to watch Marcus run so he wouldn't get Marcus in trouble.  Finally the coach allowed Marcus to run the relay at the last invitational with the top 20 teams competing against each other.  Marcus's relay team took 10th overall and was the only event to get on the podium from his school.  Unfortunately he missed the podium ceremony because as soon as he ran we had to get home to a lacrosse game.  He's going to give track another try next year because that horrible track coach retired so hopefully he'll get to run like he wants to.

He killed it in the only relay his coach let him run in

Lacrosse ended up being quite an exciting season.  Marcus was the only freshman to make the varsity team so that was a big accomplishment! It also made him really nervous and he felt like he continually had to prove to everyone and himself that he deserved to be there.  They had practices five times a week and miraculously none of the games coincided with track meets.  Marcus's lacrosse coach was so proud of Marcus for running track that he was happy to accommodate his track schedule when he had conflicts which made a huge difference in the way we feel about lacrosse now.

His team ended up playing in the State Championship against our rival school for the third year in a row.  The parents did a big send-off at the school with posters and balloons as the boys boarded the bus for the big game.

Marcus has the best fan club of all

Ethan's poster made headlines as he posed with Kellen, the star of the team who is going to play for the University of Utah next year.

WA State Championships 4A

 We sat in the pouring rain watching as the boys battled it out on the field and my nerves were shot as the boys played their hearts out.  I really get into the game and my siblings who were watching the live stream could actually hear me yelling over the crowd.  Randy was so embarrassed.  We started out with a lead and miraculously kept it through the half.  At the start of the third quarter we were up by 5 points which would typically mean a win but then our boys started to get gassed.  Before we knew it the other team scored seven unanswered goals and was up by two.  It was unreal!  With only a minute left in the game we were down by one point.  The yelling and cheering was unparalleled as it came down to the end.  Our team called a time out and I thought I was going to throw up.  We missed our buzzer shot that would've tied the game and when the horn sounded, the other team threw their helmets and gloves in the air and celebrated while our boys knelt on the field in defeat and tears.  It was terrible.  We walked onto the field to get Marcus and I'm still traumatized from seeing all these big athletic boys sobbing as they hugged their moms.  Marcus isn't one to cry but he sobbed on my shoulder like all the others and then got a huge hug from his little brothers as well.  We were all so proud of him regardless but it really took a few days for the sting of the loss to go away.  I'm also really glad the game didn't go into overtime.  The intensity was too much for me!
 Here are some random pictures of Marcus throughout the season.  There were so many photographers at the State Championship they were practically tripping over each other to get good shots.

This is my favorite photo (even though Marcus isn't in it).  They look like the Avengers defending their goal, and I love the kid getting stepped on too.

Marcus plays a mean defense even with his duct-taped cleat

Can you see me?  Landon refused to hold the sign so I had the cute college girl next to me hold Marcus's picture while I held the poster.

The boys running to their coach after winning the semi-finals.  "We are going to STATE!" And Marcus is in the front wearing jersey #22 because he couldn't find his :(

After Marcus shoved this guy out of bounds, he got the ball and scored a goal.  It was awesome!

Can you see the rain falling?  The photographer had an amazing camera!

And that's a wrap on Marcus's sports career as a freshman.  It's really too bad he has to go to school or get an education to earn a living for the future because he could play sports all day and never be happier.  His lax coach is thrilled to know Marcus has four little brothers following in his footsteps. I proudly wear a t-shirt that says "I only raise Ballers" to all their Saturday games.

Simplot Games

Marcus has been training with a running coach for almost a year and got to compete in the annual Simplot Games in Pocatello, Idaho.  It's a huge indoor track event that has been going for 40 years.  I had no idea how awesome it would be until we got there, although I'm biased because leaving my kids for a few days even if it was to travel to cold and snowy Idaho felt pretty dreamy to me.

Marcus and I flew to Boise with his running coach and team, then rented a car and drove three hours to Pocatello.  The scenery was barren and brown but driving without little kids was awesome! 

Heading into the arena for the first time

We walked into the huge arena and immediately felt the air buzzing with excitement.  Marcus competed in three events: the 60M, long jump, and the sprint medley relay where he ran the 200M as the second leg.
I could go on and on about how fun it was just being at this meet but honestly, you'd just have to be there.  There were former Olympic gold medalists there which was so inspiring.  On the last day of the meet they had a parade of athletes similar to the opening ceremony of the Olympics.  They had all the runners line up behind their State flag and walk around the track while the crowd cheered them on.  There were athletes there from all the Western States, Minnesota, New York, and a few teams from Australia and New Zealand.  How cool was that?  We saw a new national record in the 60M get set by a junior from Oregon.  It was amazing!

Coach bo and The Spirit of the Gods running team

My boy after he ran the relay in finals

The relay team with their golden baton and medals

Most of the runners were juniors or seniors in high school so Marcus was way out of his league but we knew that going into the meet.  Coach Bo wanted Marcus to see what fast really looked like and get "the big fish in a little pond" mentality out of his head.  Boy, did it work!  Marcus was so nervous to run the 60M that he said his brain totally blanked and he was having a hard time even remembering what to do.  He wasn't happy with the way he ran but I thought he did great and came in 7th of the twenty-five 9th graders.  He didn't qualify for finals in the long jump (only 9 out of 100 jumpers did), but his relay team made it to finals.  It was a nail-biter as we had to watch all the teams in the following heats try to beat them out of their spot and one of the teams came in at the same time and it came down to a thousandth of a second to determine who got what spot.  It was intense!  When they raced in the finals a couple runners fell right at the exchange and Marcus had to push one runner out of the way and hop over another so that was exciting and nerve wracking all at the same time.

 The other cool part about this meet was seeing all the family supporting Marcus.  Both sets of grandparents made the 2-hour drive to watch the races, April and Toby drove up for the finals, and my aunt and cousin came down from Idaho Falls to watch the finals as well.  Basically Marcus had the biggest cheering section of anyone there and I wish I had gotten everyone's picture. 

We so much fun hanging out with his team and coach and now I feel like we're all best friends.  One of the highlights was sitting in my hotel room reading a book (it was heaven) while the boys decided to practice their hand-offs in the hall.  At full speed.  Luckily Marcus's coach intervened before anyone got hurt.  Can you imagine stepping out of your hotel room and getting run over by a sprinter?  Boys are idiots. 

Marcus's first experience at Sizzler.  He ate a steak, 6 tacos, and dessert.

Our hotel had a brand new casino in it and we had to walk with an escort through the casino to get to the buffet for breakfast.

We spent our last night in Boise so we made a quick stop at Grandma's house.  It was so fun visiting with her, Lisa, and Dave.

Marcus's awesome running spikes.  The one on the right still has the tape on it.  His coach is a smart guy and had them tape up their shoes to help them not slide on the track.  Runners were falling everywhere!  It made their relay team look like a bunch of boys from the sticks whose shoes were falling apart but they didn't fall so it worked.

 Boy, was I happy to get home and hug my other boys! Here is Parker talking to me on FaceTime so he could show me how he lost his first tooth!  Oh, and this all happened back at the end of a week of snow days.  I had made all sorts of arrangements for friends to take care of the boys and then school was canceled again and that messed everything up.  I'm so thankful for Randy and all my good friends who took good care of my boys so I could enjoy a little get away.  I definitely need to escape more often!