By By Adam Robinson- Sports Editor
If you have ever been driving on the streets of Brewton you have probably seen them. Just about everyday you can see them running up and down the roads and sidewalks in the city limits.
You might even have seen them in other places. They even run when they are on vacation.
But wherever you might come upon them, running is what you will be seeing them do.
That is if you ever come across the Nelson family: Brandon, Amber, Katie and Karissa.
This week, the Nelson children will be taking part in a national cross-country meet in Oakville when they run in the AAU National Championship.
The Nelson's qualified for the event two weeks ago. Karissa and Katie ran a 3,000-meter race, Amber ran a 4,000-meter race and Brandon ran a 5,000-meter race.
Karissa took first place with a time of 11:04 and Katie took fourth with a time of 12:29. Amber took 12th with a time of 16:57 and Brandon placed 11th with a time of 17:26.
All four runners run on the T.R. Miller cross country team in the fall and then run on the track team in the spring running in the long distance races.
Earlier this year, Karissa, Katie and Amber took second place along with other T.R. Miller Lady Tiger cross-country runners as they claimed the class 3A state runner up at the state meet.
Katie and Karissa are seventh graders on the team, Amber is a freshman and Brandon is a junior.
While the Nelsons are a young group of runners, their love and passion for running started when they were young, not even able to walk yet or should I say run.
For cross training, the Nelsons use swimming to help them train for their many races they run.
On Monday, the Nelsons trained with a six-mile run.
Local marathon and long distance runner Rebecca Jordan has been helping the Nelsons train also.
During the running season as a team, the girls along with the other Lady Tiger runners competed as a team to win.
But while there are races as a team, cross-country also is an individual race.
There are personal best times to be broken and you always want to be the first one to cross the finish line.
It is the same with the Nelsons.
Amber said it used to bother her since she is the oldest Nelson girl, to have her younger sisters beat her, but she has since grown to not let it bother her because she says it happens a lot.
With the national exposure and the chance to run against some national competition, the Nelsons hope that not only will it help them improve their times for their meets in the spring season of track and next year's fall season, but hopefully they can build on their second place finish at state this year and hopefully take the state championship.
Their mom, Pauline Nelson, said she is proud of all her children.