That there little girl wants to run.

Last Friday Natalie had her first track meet...ever. After she signed up for 3 events, 400 m, 50 m, and soft long jump she proudly came home and told me she was competing. I asked her "when?" and she had no clue. She was just excited to participating. After a little searching I finally figured out the date and time and Natalie began "training" for her events that were only 10 days away. Every night I drove her up to middle school so she could practice running and in my book she was doing pretty well. She is a pretty small girl you know? The first event was the 50 m. With her little legs going as fast as they could she pushed herself into 4th place. We were proud.

Next came the 400 m. She had done this many times and her fastest speed was 2:11. I thought she was doing great when she had practiced before. She never walked and kept a good even pace the whole time. But when it came to race day the poor girl caved. About 1/2 way around she slowed to a walking pace and then pick it back up to a run to finish. She came in second to last. Only because another little girl tripped and fell. 9th by default. She wasn't really proud of her race so we had to have the "it's about finishing talk".Last of all came the soft long jump. She put everything she had into it and there she went. A whopping 4'3". Magnificent! She was really proud of her jump.

She didn't win any prizes or ribbons and I think there may be a fair amount counselling that may come of this, but we are proud of her non-the-less. I just think it's great she likes to run. That afternoon she developed a fever and just wasn't feeling well. Can we blame the outcome on illness?