Friday was another soggy day so I opted to move indoors for a little basketball at SBU. It was my first play since breaking my arm and needless to say I was slightly nervous about taking a fall, but the guys were all aware and kept the banging and bumping to a minimum (for one day at least). Felt good to get back on the court and after an hour I was feeling the 'interval'. Noonball has always served as an interval effort (especially for cross) for me as the tempo is high (minimal rest from start to finish) and the HR stays up there.
Friday after work Ian had indoor baseball practice at 'the cages' here is Bolivar, which is a nice option when it rains outside. There are three 'netted' lanes (two for batting practice w/machines and one for kid pitching and an open area for fielding work) and plenty of practice is accomplished during the two hours.
Jake took Andie to the BHS Athletic Celebration (suit and tie affair) in the evening and had a good time. He was in bed at a decent hour as the bus left at 5:30am the next morning for the 3.5 hr drive to Union.
Saturday morning everyone was up bright and early heading up I-44 to the district meet. It rained solid the entire drive (and light rain most of the day). To kill the drive time Ian brought a book about Missouri Oak and Hickory trees he recently got at his Eco field trip. Deb and Ian took turns reading aloud and knocked out the whole thing. Never thought I would know as much about trees as I do now.
Got to the meet and set up our 'fortress'; sat on big blue tarp and draped it over us to provide complete closure on three sides and perfect viewing out the front. Ian was a great trooper and we all enjoyed/endured the rain/drizzle/winds for the LONGGGGGG meet.
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So there we are watching the boys warming up and Jake was not looking good (already); just survive and move on... Gun goes off and after the first three legs the boys have the lead by about 10 meters and Jake takes off. His first quarter is solid, but as he is coming by he is already gasping for a breathe (obvious in the progress of the pictures below). Buffalo goes by and then Osage; Jake is keeping it together as the top four move on and in the closing meters he keeps the pace high and passes the Osage runner to finish 2nd (only 2 seconds behind first). His leg was the slowest of the team's and one of his slowest all year, but it doesn't matter as they advanced and he has another week to recover and that was the main focus... survive and move on.
Jake mentally beat himself up for the rest of the day as he felt he let his team down by not winning. I had to remind him there was no difference in 1st and 4th at districts and sectionals as they all move on and his job this week was simply run and qualify, which he did. He heard what I said, but couldn't let go of letting his team down. Coach decided not to run him in the open 800 (good choice) as it was obvious he couldn't perform at a level to advance to sectionals. He spent most of the day cheering on teammates and hacking and coughing; he has one week to get back to decent running form.
Next week at sectionals Bolivar is going to surprise a few teams as it will be a different group running the 4 x 800 for the first time all season. Districts was the first time Jake had ran the relay and our second fastest kid (Sterling Roberts) didn't run it Saturday (as they saved him for the open 800 knowing the relay would advance without him). With Jake halfway healthy this weekend he will easily drop 5+ seconds from his leg and putting Sterling on will drop a 2:11 time to 2:06 or better; that is a 10 second advance that should get them comfortably through districts and into the State meet. That being said now they actually have to go out and do it as they are currently ranked 6th (top 4 advance), but only 2 seconds behind 4th and 5th and 5 seconds behind 3rd. 12:30pm this Saturday it is on like Donkey Kong at Marshfield!
After the meet Jake decided to hop in with us for the drive home (which is always nice). With a dinner stop at Steak-n-Shake the drive home seemed to last forever as it continued to drizzle the whole way back. A quick catch of SNL and lights out for everyone; we were all beat.
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I decided Saturday evening not to race Hellbender as the forecast was for a ton of rain and I still hadn't kicked my cold (turns out it rained plenty). I am still in the hunt for my first race of '10.
Sunday we all slept in and skipped church services. It was needed for both the boys as Ian slept past 9am (super late for him) and Jake close to 12pm (regular for him - HA!). I got up in time to watch the Giro finish (and the last 10k from the day before - EPIC is a deserving description).
Speaking of the Giro the first below photo (from Graham Watson) is one of my favorite of all time (is that the Giro or CX?). Cadel was a monster and after last years WC and most all of this year he is no longer boring to watch. It took me a while to figure out if the Giro riders were in Holland, Italy, or Missouri in the second picture...
I initially planned to get in a ride in the afternoon (when the rain stopped), but Ian and I ended up playing the whole afternoon and I just couldn't give that up for a spin. Sunday evening included hanging out with the crew and playing a bunch of games of Settlers.
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