Summer Decathlon in the Rain

I'm clocking in a little late here, but had a nice night at the track, despite a rain delay and much concern that the festivites would get canceled. First up were the little kiddies in the 200 M dash. That's a long way for a 3 yr old, but Skylar hung with the older kids great and finished the 200 in about 64 seconds! She was utterly adorable out there, running free, elbows straight like only a toddler knows how, and a huge smile on her face flanked by dimples!

Next up: Lincoln. Though he was tired from basketball camp today, he still brought home a 5 second PR by beating last summer's time. I think he finished in about 48 seconds.
I ran with the big dogs in the last, fast heat, though whether I really belonged there might have been iffy. With the rain and monitoring 2 kids, I didn't warm up completely as I might have liked. But I got off to nice, quick start anyway. By the straightaway, though, it was clear that a few of the young guys were too fast for too long. I finished 5th of 6 with a 28.88s. This beats last year's time by almost a second, and I think I could still improve it a little with some more focused training.

The "workout" session after the main event tonight was a predict-your-finish 5k. I didn't give it much thought and put down 23:00. I was rather surprised to find that I ran smoothly so soon after the 200. My pace was steady throughout and I had a nice dogfight with another guy over the last 3 laps. I took over in the last straightaway, though, and got him by a few seconds. 23:23 - and 3rd place in getting close to my prediction! But the real story was my son. He was beat from basketball, beat from the 200 sprint, but wanted to give the 5k a shot anyway. I figured he'd jog a couple laps and get tired a walk for a while before retiring. He'd never gone more than 2 miles before. I told him to just go for as long as he felt like it and not worry about doing the full distance. I knew he was beat.

I'll tell you what, that boy ran and ran and ran! We all started together, so I got to cheer him on a few times while lapping him. He just kept on going! Half way through I could tell he was psyched that he'd even done that much. With 2 laps to go I was screaming my fool head off for him! He was steady throughout and even finished with a kick to pass another kid. 34:15 PR for Lincoln!!!