Track and Field Day

Today was Track and Field day for both girls. They went off at the crack of dawn this morning, armed with lunch, water bottles and umbrellas. (The forecast was for rain.) Thing 1 was in Grade 8 girls' high jump, and Thing 2 was in long jump and 1500 m. Considering neither of my children has a competitive bone in either of their bodies, I was a bit puzzled as to their enthusiasm for this event, until I realized that it was a day off school, and there would be pizza.

Thing 2's events were both right at the beginning of the day, and she was all done by 10 a.m. I went to see her at around noon, because I knew she would be bored out of her mind and wouldn't want to stick around the meet until 4:00. Sure enough, she was delighted to see me, and after scoring a piece of Domino's finest, she was quite happy to come home for a bit and then head on back to school for the afternoon. It wasn't until she was gone that I realized that she hadn't told me how she had done. I can only assume that means she didn't win.

Thing 1 had one event, high jump, at 2, so I went back to the meet to see her. Man, those Grade 8 girls have long legs, they all are about 9 feet tall, with 42 inch inseams. A couple of them didn't even seem to try and they were up and over that bar. Thing 2 was out of the competition at a respectible 125 cm. Her friend, Nicole, came in in the top three, and everyone was happy.

I'm amazed at how hard-core some parents are when it is their children competing. I wanted to go and point out to a couple of people that A) this was not the Olympics, there is very little riding on the outcome of this elementary school competition, and B) holy shit you are annoying. I am very happy that my kids are not involved in sports on a regular basis, because I'm sure I would end up on the news as the parent who clocked another parent who said not very nice things about her child.

Both Things are very tired and in need of a shower, and I got all sorts of props for being the mother Who Shows Up To Things.