On a recent afternoon — and it surely happens every day — Kellen London’s demeanor was that of a confident young man who embraces life to the fullest. He’s got a strong handshake, greets a visitor with a smile and makes laser-like eye contact while welcoming you into his world.

It’s a good place to be — surrounded by family, back at school and running again after recovering from two brain hemorrhages he suffered March 29 at Moorlands Elementary in Kenmore.

This Saturday, he’ll be competing in the two-mile Regional Junior Olympic Cross-Country Championships at Oregon City High.

He placed fourth in this fall’s district elementary race for fifth-graders. Kellen’s twin sister, Ellee, won the girls fifth-grade race, and will also be running at this Saturday’s meet.

“I feel good about it. It just feels like I’m doing a sport again,” Kellen, 10, said while relaxing on a couch in his family’s Bothell home Nov. 8.

Ellee feels the same way, as she glanced at her brother with a smile.

“I just like running. I try not to get very muddy, but you always get muddy a little bit,” Kellen added with a laugh about the Lower Woodland course in Seattle where he’s run a few races, including last Saturday’s qualifier for his and Ellee’s upcoming meet. (If they finish in the top 20, they’ll secure spots to nationals in Alabama.)

Since his return to the athletic scene, Kellen has been training with the Cascade Striders running club.

“Kellen has not had his doctors’ OK to play any sports that involve ‘balls’ because of a potential hit to his head. He understands he can’t play his favorite soccer with his Crossfire team or basketball, but fortunately he is able to run and enjoys it very much,” mom Debi said. “This is a miracle in and of itself, considering Kellen couldn’t move his right side after his brain hemorrhage(s).”

Kellen’s first race since his injury was last summer when he, older sisters Alyssa and Lacey and Debi ran in the Seaside, Ore., 5K. Debi noted that she and the sisters were “bookends,” as the girls ran up front, Kellen in the middle and Debi in back.

“I could see Lacey and Alyssa up in my (visuals),” said Kellen, noting that they provided motivation for him to finish the race.

“There was an uneasiness because we didn’t know where he was,” dad Tate said.

Debi added: “He was way up there. It was an out-and-back run, so we just slapped hands.”

Next up was the Torchlight Run in downtown Seattle, where father and son ran side by side.

Tate and Kellen also sometimes train together at Striders practices.

“And I’m sore afterwards,” Tate laughs about Kellen’s strong running skills. Running has always been a London bonding sport and began when Debi and Tate met at Sprague High in Salem, Ore., participating in cross country and track together.

Kellen has worked hard to get back on his life’s course. The youngster said he rarely thought about sports when he was in the hospital, he “just wanted to get better.”

According to Kellen’s care page in April, “It was determined he had an AVM (Arteriovenous Malformation) … blood vessel hemorrhage. Kellen’s AVM is congenital (he was born with it). Many people in the population are born with AVMs, but its rupturing only occurs in 2-4 percent of the population.”

He first spent time in the pediatric intensive-care unit (ICU) at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, where he received visits from Seattle Sounders FC goalkeeper Kasey Keller and defender Taylor Graham, who cheered him up and told of some of their injuries and how they pushed through to recovery.

He later underwent rehabilitation at Children’s Hospital in Seattle and had outpatient visits at Bothell Pediatric and Hand Therapy.

“Kellen has come a long way in seven months since his brain injury. He is very determined, motivated and competitive, which have all helped him with his remarkable recovery,” Debi said. “He says he feels in charge of himself when he runs. The fact he can run competitively is fulfilling and liberating in and of itself. Especially considering when he was in the hospital and had no control of where he was and only wanted to go home.” (He returned home over Mother’s Day weekend in May.)

Physical therapist Shannon Wells worked with Kellen at Bothell Pediatric and Hand Therapy and said he made her job a lot easier by possessing the will and strength to recover. For about two months, two to three times a week, Wells ran Kellen through a host of workouts, including leg, foot and balance exercises, even using a soccer ball at times.

“He was so fun to work with,” Wells said. “He worked really hard and never complained about anything. It was really rewarding to see how fast he was recovering and how he was willing to try everything. He’s a driven, competitive and motivated type of kid.”

Debi noted that Kellen is happy to be back at Moorlands full time with Ellee, his friends and teachers, who have been keeping a watchful eye on him on the playground.

“The teachers don’t hover as much as at the beginning … (I thought) well, I gotta get away from them now,” Kellen said.

Add Debi: “It’s like having an allergy, ‘I can’t do this versus I can’t eat this’ … he has to monitor what he can and cannot do, because we can’t be there all the time. You have to take it in stride, right?”

Community support has been crucial to the Londons, and the Inglemoor High track-and-field Web site featured a photo of Kellen running and his story in the spring.

“It’s is very important to have people help bring meals or just being there to say they’ve been praying for him, and just that he’s in their thoughts is really helpful,” said sister Lacey at a Viking track meet in April. “Everyone’s support means a lot to us all.” (Lacey is now at the University of Oregon on an academic scholarship, playing club soccer and planning to be a track walk-on in the spring.)

Kellen will have another MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) in January, when the family will learn how the AVM has been healing from the radiation treatment Kellen had to shrink it back July 5.

“He looks great, he feels great and that’s what matters,” Tate said. “We hope we have good news in January.”

“We’re trying to get back to normalcy,” Debi added. “We’re going forward now.”