Final cross-country race

Yesterday was our eldest son's final cross country race with CAJ. He's been doing this since he was in sixth grade (barring the year we spent in Australia), so that's six seasons we've doing this. Here's one of my early blog posts about this yearly trek, here's one from our third season.

It's become our normal for Saturdays in September and October. I'm so glad that he's stuck with the sport and also that our younger sons have also taken it up. 

Cross country is a good sport for staying in shape. It's a team sport that is very individual at the same time. It's also a sport with a good reputation for sportsmanship. Runners and spectators encourage and cheer for one another.

The runners learn about perseverance, mentally challenging yourself, setting goals, etc. They tackle a hard thing each meet (this course has a particularly punishing hill in it) and have to get past that.

The venue's pretty impressive too, I have to say! There aren't any other sports played by international schools in Tokyo that have such a beautiful location! There aren't many places that look like this in the city bounds of Tokyo!

Even if you aren't spectacular at the sport you can have success: by competing against your own times and seeking to improve. I like the way the sport is run in this league, a lot better than the way it is done in Australia. In Australia you get one chance to get into the school team and that continues up the ladder of representation. The courses you run are different at each meet. I'm sure our school teams here have much better team spirit because they run together for two months. They get to do the same course several times over and work on their technique and strategy.

It looks like we'll be doing this for another six years also! Our middle son ran well this year and our youngest is also pretty keen. I don't really mind. It's tiring to get up early to go and watch them, but the meets are short and we're usually home by the early afternoon.

Alas now the season is all but over (there is a Fun Run hosted by the cross country team tomorrow at school), wrestling will be taking a hold of this household very soon. Hold on to your hats!