The track coach warned us: Dress warm! He wasn't wrong.
Our freshman is running track for the first time. In middle school, tennis season is in the spring for boys, but it switches in high school. This year, the track coach created an invitation before Spring Break to get official times for his athletes.
In Michigan, that means racing in the mid-40s (if you're lucky). The meet started at 4:00. The sun was out. It was a balmy 45 degrees. Five teams of athletes huddled together on the infield. A few hundred parents shivered in the stands.
Our coach was pretty excited: Around a hundred boys signed up to run track this season. The more guys who run, the higher the probability that the stud athletes will be among them. The only downside to the is statistical play: 15 heats of boys running the 100 meter dash.
It's not a long race, but it takes A LONG time to run it 15 times. (Only 10 or 11 heats of girls were competing in the 100.) We watched. We cheered. We zipped our coats tighter.
And then we waited.
And waited.
And waited.
My son's next event was the 400 meter dash. Due to the large number of athletes, it was over an hour between races. An hour for the sun to sink lower in the sky. An hour for my toes to grow numb and then start to ache.
I pulled my blanket tighter around my legs. I took a walk over to the school to try to defrost. I added another layer of clothing.
Fortunately, teenage boys are impervious to the weather. He had fun hanging with his guys and cheering his teammates even though he only had on a hoodie and some Adidas pants.
My wife started doing the math. "I'm trying to understand this sport," she said. "Are we going to be here for four hours in order to watch him run for less than two minutes? Make it make sense."
(It did end up being four hours, by the way.)
I grew up running track. I coached the middle school teams for several year before my kids were born.
I smiled at her. "Yeah, that's what makes it so cool though. There are so many events that every kid can find what they're good at and only do that. It's like a basketball team where some kids only have to worry about shooting free throws and others only have to get really good at defense and others can just focus on three-point shots. There's an event for every athlete, and when you're on the bench you can just have fun hanging out with your buddies!"
I think she was convinced, but maybe she was just too cold to disagree.
The final event was a relay, and only four of the 100 guys on the team were competing. All of the other guys ran back and forth across the infield holding speakers booming music and screaming for the four competitors. Even though they were frozen, that kind of craziness is infectious. I think my son is hooked.
Our freshman is running track for the first time. In middle school, tennis season is in the spring for boys, but it switches in high school. This year, the track coach created an invitation before Spring Break to get official times for his athletes.
In Michigan, that means racing in the mid-40s (if you're lucky). The meet started at 4:00. The sun was out. It was a balmy 45 degrees. Five teams of athletes huddled together on the infield. A few hundred parents shivered in the stands.
Our coach was pretty excited: Around a hundred boys signed up to run track this season. The more guys who run, the higher the probability that the stud athletes will be among them. The only downside to the is statistical play: 15 heats of boys running the 100 meter dash.
It's not a long race, but it takes A LONG time to run it 15 times. (Only 10 or 11 heats of girls were competing in the 100.) We watched. We cheered. We zipped our coats tighter.
And then we waited.
And waited.
And waited.
My son's next event was the 400 meter dash. Due to the large number of athletes, it was over an hour between races. An hour for the sun to sink lower in the sky. An hour for my toes to grow numb and then start to ache.
I pulled my blanket tighter around my legs. I took a walk over to the school to try to defrost. I added another layer of clothing.
Fortunately, teenage boys are impervious to the weather. He had fun hanging with his guys and cheering his teammates even though he only had on a hoodie and some Adidas pants.
My wife started doing the math. "I'm trying to understand this sport," she said. "Are we going to be here for four hours in order to watch him run for less than two minutes? Make it make sense."
(It did end up being four hours, by the way.)
I grew up running track. I coached the middle school teams for several year before my kids were born.
I smiled at her. "Yeah, that's what makes it so cool though. There are so many events that every kid can find what they're good at and only do that. It's like a basketball team where some kids only have to worry about shooting free throws and others only have to get really good at defense and others can just focus on three-point shots. There's an event for every athlete, and when you're on the bench you can just have fun hanging out with your buddies!"
I think she was convinced, but maybe she was just too cold to disagree.
The final event was a relay, and only four of the 100 guys on the team were competing. All of the other guys ran back and forth across the infield holding speakers booming music and screaming for the four competitors. Even though they were frozen, that kind of craziness is infectious. I think my son is hooked.