At the school, they have a group called Landsharks Run Club that some parents volunteered to run. Kids practice a couple days a week and then have a track meet on the weekend. Kind of a way to introduce kids to running and track before the sports become available at a middle school age.
I saw the invitation laying on the table at home and left it alone. I didn’t want to be the guy that pushed my kids into something. Anyway, weeks went by and I went out of town. Came to find out the girls signed up and were at practice. Guess its on! Apparently, doing pretty well at it. We have raced before so its not new but definitely haven’t trained for anything. The school stuff isn’t hard core training of course. But its something regular.
The first meet was today at Boulder High School. This was right after a blizzard so the track had to be shoveled days prior. Kids had their choice of 400m, 800m or 1 mile. That’s 1, 2 or 4 laps for you non-track folk. I am a non-track folk — never raced on one in my life. So its new to me. But I know a few things so I spent time teaching them to run the tangents and such.
Told them that if they won, I would love them. And if they lost? Yep, I won’t claim them. They knew the answer as they told me out loud — this while other parents are telling their kids they are winners for just being there. Right.
Ready?
Working in with a pack of boys. They race together. Bogus! Oh well. Gives them something to chase I guess.
Run the tangents? Not so much. I was screaming at her while she passed by.
Got in front of that girl.
I told both kids that if they aren’t hurting or puking on that final stretch, then its not hard enough. I think they both got the message. Sydney looked like she was working hard on the final stretch. We have raced enough to know that you don’t die after the finish line. It gets better instantly.
800m Finisher! Great job. Not really sure where she finished as all eyes were on her. But it was a solid performance. She has some work to do before next weekend’s follow-up meet. TANGENTS!
Both my racers! Boulder High School was originally a University of Colorado campus building. Later it became the first high school in the state. Maybe one of these girls will represent the Buffaloes on the track someday?
Live action video taken by Kim. See the race unfold!