Tuesday, April 15, 2008

No Records Today

A couple years ago I heard a voice. Not God, not my own, and it wasn't talking to me, so I was pretty sure I wasn't crazy.

It took me a couple minutes, but I figured out that it was the loudspeaker at the high school next door, and there was a track meet going on.

Today Leah wanted to go watch, especially after I explained a couple of the events. Which she's familiar with from watching Aaron play Olympic Games on Wii. This may sound sad, but it's better than some of the things she could be learning from video games! But I digress.

I pulled the kids in the wagon down to the track, and they watched fascinated for about 15 minutes. Also interesting to Ben were the runners on our bike path and every vehicle that drove by. And did I mention the dead leaves collected along the fence? Oh yes, they were vastly amusing to both children, who tried to throw them at me, but here was the current weather:

Conditions: Fair and Windy
Temperature: 67°
Dewpoint: 45
Relative Humidity: 45
Wind: Southeast 26 G38

Very few leaves hit me, needless to say. I think I actually saw Ben lose his footing in one gust. Our children have got to gain weight.

I did feel bad for the kids at the meet. The 100m dash and jumping events were with the wind, which would be helpful. But I don't think anybody else was going to have a personal best.

It was fun explaining the events to Leah - believe it or not, I was in track in high school. Granted, that was as a manager. Hey, don't judge. Someone had to keep track of times and make sure everyone heard the announcements! I did run in 8th grade, but somehow my lack of desire to cross the finish line before anyone else got in the way. I guess you need that. Whaddaya know.

I felt very smart today knowing track terminology, like "heat" and stuff. Also I was reminiscing to myself about how those HS track meets were just big social events. I mean, people like Andrea Focht (Miss Seven State Titles or something ridiculous like that) cared about running, but really it was a chance to see other kids from similar Class B schools. Not that I knew any of them...those were my shy days, folks. Yes, I had them!

But not today! I ended up chatting with another mom watching. Folks, this lady looked not a day over 30, yet it turns out she had a 16 yr old son at the meet, twin? 2nd grade girls, and a 4 yr old and 2 yr old sons with her. She said her house is a mess. But she looked very cute, so to her I say, Bravo. New record set in the event of Parenting.

4 comments:

nydampress said...

This sounds like excellent training for them...to cheer me on at Fargo!
Then you can tell them how their Aunt ran 100m x 420 :)

. said...

i was walking a couple weeks ago and said to my companion---
"this feels like track meet weather!" which means, a little too chilly to be in shorts and a top, but just perfect to wear sweat pants, a hoodie, and cuddle in a blanket while sitting on old cold metal bleachers.

also...more kiddie pictures! please.

Noel said...

I checked noaa.gov for the conditions at Hector International Airport when this story was set: 30 mph winds gusting to 45. This is yet more evidence that North Dakota is not where kids fly kites in the spring, it is where kids become the kites (please be sure to use a strong enough string...Canada doesn't like kids blowing over the border).

Noel said...

And if I had read THE LARGE PRINT in the post carefully, I would have seen that the wind speed had already been reported. Gotta stop blogging when I'm tired....