Walking with Bob

Cross country is brisk walking

It is call and that means football. Bands practicing, mum buying, homecoming parades and Friday night in east Texas.

Let’s talk about the Saturday morning after. I mean getting up about 4 am. Then on a school bus full of kids in running suits, getting off in a field where there are rolling hills, grass, dew and country smells. There are over 700 half-awake junior and senior high school students putting up tents, decorated with their school colors and sports hoopla. There are a bunch of parents and relatives also here looking for a cup of coffee to go with their morning burger doodle breakfast on a bun. This is an East Texas Cross Country Meet.

A typical course is between 2 and 7 miles long on farmland and sometimes on roads. Canton is the Walking Capital of Texas and this course is fantabulous. The boys distance is a bit longer than the girls, and the junior high setup is a bit shorter than the senior high. There are medals for the fastest runners in each group and there are trophies for the top teams.

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