He found his niche in cross country. I used to do probably 10-15 5ks a year with friends as a recreational hobby, I was always in the 19:45-ish range. Never ran in HS, hated it. Played football instead.
My son always played football until this year, and I finally convinced him to go out for XC. He's skinny but really fit, and doesn't have the body style for football. I'm 6'1" with a 32" inseam, for reference he's 6'0" as a sophomore with a 36" inseam. He's quite literally all legs and purpose built for LD running. Took him to his first 5K this past spring (had to bribe him actually), and it was game on since then. He won it with a 19:04 with absolutely no training, and at the end of this past XC season he's down to right around 17:05 and still falling. Qualified for state in his first year in Iowa's toughest 2A district and now he's saying he wants to run in college.
To be honest it's the greatest thing that's ever happened to the kid. He went from average at most stuff to something he's really good at, and his mom and I saw an overnight transformation in self confidence and self esteem. My only regret is that I didn't steer him there earlier. He got approached by a private coach who wanted to train with him (an area guy who I've known since high school) and he just loves it. They have a group of 3 plus the coach with a really, really solid training plan from now until next fall including lifting, and he just eats it up.
I'm fine with him being so busy, I've accepted it as part of life and I know the work I did early on in his life with us being close will come back around when the time is right. I'd rather he was athletic, have a job, and be social rather than someone like my brother who was none of that and chose (still chooses) to sit at home by himself and be miserable and not healthy.
