The week passes by in a blur of homework, running, class and more homework. We have dinner with grandpa one night, as a family, like we agreed, but I’m so tired I nearly fall asleep at the table. I feel a satisfied, physical level exhaustion, that leaves me stretching out in bed every night and falling asleep immediately.
Before I know it, mom is dropping me off, bleary eyed, in the early pre-dawn hours on Saturday morning. The school parking lot is abandoned, save track parents, the few runners who have cars, and a single yellow school bus.
My parks the car, even though I tell her to just let me out, and she runs up to Coach Winston and wraps her in a hug. “I can’t believe you’re coaching the cross-country team!”
“I can’t believe your little baby is old enough to make my varsity team!”
