race day

Hadley had an "endurance" race yesterday at school. I remember doing it when I was a kid too. We had to run 1 lap when we were in Grade 1, 2 laps in Grade 2, and 3 laps in Grade 3. Apparently kids are not as fit these days, cause the Grade 3 kids only had to run 2 laps, the 2's ran 1.5 laps, and the Grade 1's ran 1 lap.

When I was a kid I was very competitive. I still am. I was always so excited for the track meet day that I couldn't sleep. It was like Christmas. All the kids in my family were/are pretty competitive. We would spend hours outside having races, setting up obstacle courses, and having competitions.

To get us competitive kids excited about Saturday cleaning, we would play a game of snakes and ladders with jobs assigned to each roll. Genius.

Even still, our family is competitive. At each reunion we have a race and "the manly cup" - I think we need to add a "womanly cup" or something though.

Anyway, back to the race yesterday. As I was sitting with Hadley, watching other groups race, I talked to her about getting ready for her race. I don't think she shares my passion for track and field day.......that's ok. I asked her if she was going to run the whole thing. She said that she might walk some if she got tired. She said that she probably wouldn't win because she was the slowest in her grade. She wasn't sad about it at all, just matter of fact. I knew that she could run the whole lap because she had done it before, so I told her that. She agreed. I let her know that it doesn't matter if you win or lose, just that you tried your best and worked hard. She already knew that of course.

She ran her race. She started out at a medium pace (like she told me she would), and stuck with it the whole time. I was so proud. She didn't win, she didn't lose, but she tried hard. She was so proud of herself.

kind of blurry, but I like how her friend, Lucy, is turned around waiting for her

The Elementary School track meet is in a few days. Hopefully I can sleep.........just kidding.