The cross country season this year has been a little down (literally) and a little up for Caleb. He started off the year with a great race at Grass Relays. The varsity race is a relay with each runner running a two mile leg. They have hay bales to jump over, including a gauntlet near the end of each mile. This year Caleb ran the time trial fast enough to be one of the 5 runners in the relay for AF. He ran the 2nd leg. AF's first man had given him a five second lead and Caleb grew it to seventeen so that was pretty impressive. AF ended up winning by about 50 seconds. (This is the only meet this season I remembered my camera--what is happening to me???). This picture shows the lead Caleb had at the "gauntlet" (from behind--he's in the white with black shorts) and then one mile later at the gauntlet (from the front). You can see how close the Davis guy was to Caleb on the first lap and then in the 2nd picture you can't see him around the bend--see the yellow arrow (nor was he in the picture at all after Caleb finished the gauntlet, but that picture didn't turn out well).
We left that day with hopes for a great season. The next race, he was a scoring runner (top 5 runners in the team) but after that he just couldn't manage to score. While he still ran well enough to stay on varsity (top 7 runners) he really wanted to be a scoring runner. He was pushing himself hard in practice and keeping the pace, but when races came, he couldn't finish like he'd like. At this point we started addressing diet and nutritional needs. We put him on a good (but expensive) supplement. He reported feeling better, but his racing did not improve much. Then at one race when he was about 100 meters from the finish he lost muscular control. He said he could barely make himself run. I didn't see it, but those who did said it was a visible change. Some how he pushed through to the finish then collapsed. I made an appointment right away (since something similar happened last year). We went the rounds: EKG, blood work and X-Rays. Everything came back normal. We were thankful for that, but then you have to wonder what else could be causing it. One night in my prayers an answer came. The words were "Don't mistake this for what it really is." I knew what that meant. I have been praying for months for Caleb to be able to have experiences to learn how to navigate with the spirit and know what Heavenly direction feels like and sounds like. This was it. It was something Caleb wanted and cared about enough and thus would be very willing to put in the effort. He joined me in working towards that. I know he made some progress, but honestly, being a teen in these days must be incredibly hard--so many distractions in so many areas--phones, music, tweets, texts, etc (and we don't even do Facebook at our house--gasp). Satan definitely knows what he is doing. My words to him were along the lines of "Caleb, Heavenly Father knows what you need to do to race well. He will tell you, but it will likely be at a critical moment and if you have prepared, you will be in position to receive an answer." So we worked towards that. By the next race, he was able to score again and also qualify to run in the State meet. While his racing did improve, he couldn't verbalize or pinpoint the Heavenly help.
Then a tender mercy happened. The day before the State meet I was up in the wee morning working on a project for Christmas for Cache. I heard someone get up at 5:15 but then I didn't hear any more. At 5:30 when Caleb usually gets up there was enough noise to convince me someone was really up. A bit later he came down and asked me if I knew where his phone was. It was on my dresser when I got up so I didn't know. Tom had been asleep and didn't know where it was. We concluded that Caleb must have slept walked--the noise at 5:15, got his phone and put it some where. He wasn't entirely convinced, but that was the only thing we could figure.
The next day was the state meet. He raced extremely well--probably his best of the season. He was a scoring runner and came in 11th overall. One article we read stated that because of the talent in the 5A race that being in the top 10 would be quite an accomplishment and given his inconsistent season, coming in 11th was outstanding. I know he wishes he could have made All State (top 10), but I'm very very happy with his performance.
Now for the rest of the story on the tender mercy. When he came home from the state meet, he suddenly had his phone. Where was it? In his back pack. He doesn't remember putting it there. But he said, "From now on, I'm going to go two days before every race without my phone. It distracts me from the concentration I need to perform well. " And the mom in me cheers louder for that outcome than the actual race. He's learning that the divine help waiting for him can only come when he is prepared and he can't fully prepare without unplugging. What a wonderful tender mercy that he could learn that for himself! I know there is more for him to learn and we will keep working, but I'm so thankful for a portion of my prayers being answered.
