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| Peter taking the lead running his heat of the 200 in his first meet. |
May 2016
Last year when we came up to the peninsula to visit schools I remembered seeing signs up posted over at the other housing area for Youth Track. I remember thinking that would be a great program for Peter. I've known a few other families in different places whose kids ran in youth track programs, and with Matt and I enjoying running a good amount, and the actual insane amount of energy bubbling out of my son, well... yeah. Seemed like something good for him.
But of course, in Spring, Peter plays baseball. It's just the way it is. Baseball has been his number one sport since he knew what sports are. No that he is by any means obligated to stick with that, but he just kind of has so far.
This probably has a great deal to do with the fact he seems to be pretty darned GOOD at baseball and he can hit that thing most of the time like a maniac.
Anyway, but as I mentioned previously, I kind of screwed up on it this year and baseball season wasn't going to be exactly the challenge he was hoping for. Sports, from his mother's perspective really need to come up with a practice (or preferably two) during the week, with games on the weekend to keep that child BUSY.
So in March, as I was rapidly discovering baseball was kind of a bust for us this year, I remembered about track and quickly got on the phone to figure out how to sign him up. Practices started in April and were every Monday and Wednesday from 6-7 pm. This solved exactly one thing for sure... Peter cold run but A.J. could not as she didn't get finished with dance classes until 6:30 on Mondays.
There would be 3 track meets in May and I knew these might conflict with our baseball games, but we decided to just take that as it came.
Also, somehow, and thankfully, it became clear that track was something Matt could do with Peter.
This is important because first of all, I'm always looking for things OTHER than video games that Matt and Peter can do together and second, I DID NOT WANT TO GO TO PRACTICE IN THE COLD EVENING FOG and freeze my bootie off. Third of all, Matt needed the exercise. :)
Here's Peter track photo for this year.
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| Peterfontaine :) |
Hahaha. It turns out, Peter is a pretty strong runner. He's pretty fast without making entirely too much effort. Heaven wonders how fast he could be if he really did try.
Of course, his talent and speed were kind of aided this year by his age. The 5 and 6 year olds were generally lumped together for events and Peter was so very close to turning 7. Also at something very close to 4 foot 3 inches, he is so very, very tall for his age. So much so, that people were forever trying to line him up with the 7 and 8 year olds. I'm certain that many of his heats were run in the wrong age group and while, I'm not trying to be a crazy track mom on top of everything else, but I feel like there is nothing wrong with him gaining a little confidence from being bigger and stronger than the other kids in his age group, even while he is one of the oldest in his group.
I mean, obviously I know he was running against himself and trying to get his best time each week, but still. If he's 6 he shouldn't be running with the 7 year olds. He is the age he is period. (It's actually like another parent who told me that tiny little A.J., having only just turned 5 about 2 months earlier, should really just be competing as a 4 year old. And I was like, "but she's 5." And the mom was like, "but she's so little." And I was like "yeah, and SO WHAT?"
Grr.
Anyway, I was a big fan of the larger events like the 400 and the 800 that they didn't run in heats because then they just put them all in a big group and set them off. And so, regardless of the stop watch timing, you could see how he placed. HE COULD SEE, how he got 19th and 22nd place when running the 800 with kids age 12 and under. He could see how he took 2nd and 3rd out of all the 5 and 6 year olds when he ran the 400. And yes winning isn't everything, but for a child like Peter who is VERY competition and who struggles in a lot of areas and who is often WAY too hard on himself, it was really really nice to see him be fairly successful.
Anyway, I'm doing a terrible job of writing this post in a way that makes any sense.
So, to begin with, his first meet was the first weekend in May. I wasn't there because A.J. was at her last competition. He only got to stay for the first couple of hours because he had to leave and go to baseball.
But he did well. He solidly took first in his heat of the 200. He took third in his heat of the 100. His favorite event actually was usually the softball throw because, as you may have guessed (from baseball) he can throw that ball a mile.
Well, not an actual a mile, but generally way way further than most of the other 6 year olds. He missed the 400 at this meet but he did run the 800 I mentioned above coming in around 19th from a huge group of kids aged 12 and under.
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| He looks like the Terminator in this one. Like the scary one from Judgement Day that kept melting himself. |
The second meet was the following weekend. It was kind of a cray day for us as it was our school Carnival as well and there was supposed to be another late baseball game (that we ultimately decided to just skip.) This meet was more of a Fitness Day for youngsters, so it still had some of the regular track events the 50m, the 100m, the 400m, the standing long jump and the softball throw, but it also had a little obstacle course and a shuttle run.
They also started things off with some fanfare including a little parade of the teams.
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| Peter is carrying the banner on the right. He has blue shoes and his way too tall for his age, as I may have mentioned already.... |
I had to leave for the bulk of the event as I was working a booth at the carnival but when I got back I was in time to see him run the obstacle course and then run the 400, where he came in 2nd or 3rd and I'll admit I cried a bit for him I was so proud.
There was a third meet a week later that he did well at as well AND I was able to stay for the entire thing.
I think it was a really good experience for him. I really hope he decided to run again next year even if his baseball stuff gets back to what he wants next year.