Birthday Race Day
Man-cub turned 7 today, and decided it was fitting that the state-champ Oak Ridge Cross Country team also hosted their annual "Elementary School Turkey Trot" today as well. Jarrett has shown to be quite a runner, completing a 1.2 mile run (the last 2k of the Knoxville Marathon) back in March and taking 2nd place in a local 1/2 mile race this past summer. So he entered the 1st Grade heat of the Turkey Trot with a lot of confidence -- and, as the photo above shows, blazed into the home stretch with only the ORCC wingman ahead of him.
Despite an errant turn on the final approach, he quickly corrected his course and rounded the last turn with a strong kick to take first place. Final time for the 3/4 mile (1200m) course: 6:37. The photo to the right is Jarrett (and trophy) with legendary coach Allen Etheridge, himself an accomplished distance runner with a 15:05 record 3-miler and a 2nd place finish in the 2006 Knoxville Marathon. Coach Etheridge led this year's Oak Ridge High School teams (both boys and girls) to state titles, and later this week will fly with his team to Portland, Oregon for the Nike Team National Championships! GO WILDCATS!