BMC Running Camp

When we got back from Disney World, we had one week before BMC Running camp, and a WHOLE lot to do! Our trail was still a single file foot path through poison ivy, and I had not even finished our camp notebooks yet!

Thankfully, my husband had promised me that he would work on the trails that week. Very good, actually, because a man with a chainsaw is generally more productive than a woman with a rake and pruning shears!

Even so, I began to feel overwhelmed around Tuesday or Wednesday... This was an insurmountable job, and we would never finish on time! I sent out an email plea to ask any available Spartans to come help. 4 Cobbs, a Gunnells, 2 McAfees, and 2 Newells came to the rescue! It is amazing how much these young people accomplished in a few days! It was also amazing and wonderful to see their willingness to serve and work in the Mississipi summer heat... Thank you, y'all!

We finished cutting the trail! The bridges didn't get built, but I always over estimate how productive I will be. Scott thinks I'm crazy... I call it optimistic! :)

36 middle/high school students turned out for Blue Mountain's first Cross Country camp! We had a great week... each day we ran (duh!), had nutrition class, learned from some very informative speakers, did strength training, and enjoyed some fun recreation!

Luke and Anthony enjoying some fine BMC cuisine!

The runners were broken up into groups with Blue Mountain runners as leaders... here are some of their pictures:

Hunter's group

Derek and Richard with their group

Austin and the "Fast Boys"

Beth and Stephanie with campers

The pool was not quite ready on Monday, so our recreation consisted of a large tarp, a fire hydrant, and baby shampoo! Talk about large-scale slip 'n sliding! I was too much of a chicken to try it, but it sure looked fun! (You know, I'm getting old and might have broken a hip or something!)
The week culminated in a cross country race. Our course was muddy (there had been a monsoon the night before), HOT, and HUMID!!! Aside from those not-so-small factors, the runners did very well! I even got a new signee for this upcoming fall out of the deal... details in a minute!

We had 2 races: JV and Varsity. The girls and boys were combined because of numbers, and it worked out fine.

Sarah won the 2 mile JV race... by a long shot! Way to go, girl! Martha Chunn came in third for the varsity girls, but there were two very competitive girls from south Mississippi in front of her. I was very proud of her race!

Nathan Baggett also won an award in the JV race- Way to go, Nathan!


The awards were Large BMC Topper cups with a bag of grapes inside. After all of our nutrition talks, I couldn't bear to fill them with M&Ms or something! However, we did let the award winners partake in a special rite of passage... I had brought the coveted coffee punch for my BMC runners that morning, and the winners were allowed to have a little in their Topper cups!It was nice to have my girls there with me at camp all week!