Track

The Mathews High School track team had another meet at Charles City County High School Thursday evening, so after work I drove on over to watch.  Above, Josh Foster, my second-favorite student at MHS, paces himself in the mile.  He and Daughter have played soccer together since they were knee-high to a grasshopper.  This year, he's doing both soccer and track, while Daughter opted to do track instead of soccer.

Speaking of Daughter, she's my favorite MHS student and favorite female teenager of all time.

She's also my favorite athlete to watch.

She won the 400-meter...

...and also her heat of the 200-meter. 

(We think she might have won that race overall too, but it's unconfirmed since we don't yet know the time of the winner in the first heat.)

Next week is Daughter's spring break.  I'll work the first of the week but Thursday morning we're heading to Virginia Tech and University of Virginia to take tours and talk to admissions folks.  She stresses over whether she's good enough to get in and wonders what she needs to do to be better.

I just tell her how proud I am of what she's done so far and where she is now.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I love this girl and am so proud of her many accomplishments.

In other news, the weather has warmed up a bit.  I'm hoping it's a trend that continues.

Have a great weekend.

Misty Morning

Thursday morning a pocket of fog clung to the shoreline of Smither's cemetery across the creek from me.  Sunrise saw warmer temperatures jockeying for position with the cooler nighttime ground temperatures.  Although it rained on and off throughout the day, it was a very warm day eventually.

That warmth is predicted to be short-lived, however, and just in time for yet another race I've not prepared for:  the Monument Avenue 10K in Richmond, also known as Baby Sis's stomping grounds. We'll spend Friday night at her friend Dino's house, awake at Oh-So-Dark Thirty Saturday morning, and limp up and down Richmond's quaint neighborhoods in freezing temperatures--although likely nowhere near as cold as the Valentine's Day race at the winery.

Afterwards, I'll drive to Daughter's track meet in Charles City, which is sort of/not really/but kind of on the way home. If you're going the long way which includes going in the entirely opposite direction.

On Sunday I hope to do absolutely nothing.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Three Things

Once again Thursday is here at our doorstep, and that means it's time to be grateful to have survived another week.  

Also it's time to share three random thoughts. Or in my case, three blog posts in one.

1. Unless a major weather event sneaks up on us, I will go crabbing today, and I don't mean the sitting barefoot on the end of the dock with a chicken neck tied to a piece of twine chewing on a piece of clover wearing bib overalls and a straw hat sort of crabbing.

(The Misplaced Modifier/Run-On Sentence Police just arrived and are serving warrants for my arrest as we speak.)

No, this is Official Crabbing, folks. Although I've been out clamming before--from Hampton, circa 1981/82 on the Little Lisa.--this commercial crabbing thing will be a whole new experience which hopefully will not involve turning green, since a wee bit of wind is called for. But we're not focusing on that. We're just going to do the best we can. (We=me.)

2. Speaking of doing the best I can, Saturday is The Big 10K. My only goal is to finish without walking. Or falling. Or experiencing a major cardiovascular event.

Or crying.

3. The Mathews High School track team is in dire need of resources, both human and financial.

I'm trying to get up there once a week to provide a little guidance with the high jump and hurdles. However, they could also use help with some of the field events including discus, shot, long jump/triple jump, etc.

Approximately 65 kids and over 15 different events from sprinting to distance running means that one coach and one assistant are not nearly enough. In addition the school will not fund the expenses (room and board) for those who make it to the state championship; the coach must raise that money himself. They need a long jump pit. There weren't enough uniforms for everyone. They need so much.

They're running on the very same track my mother helped raise money for 30 years ago. Since we lack adequate facilities, all the meets are away.

If you have time or funds to donate, please contact me or the high school. There is so much talent and it pains me to see them struggling because of the dearth of resources.

I'm buying 7 (my lucky number) Power Ball tickets for this 400 kajillion dollar lottery this Friday. If I win, Mathews will never, ever have to worry about track being a Stepchild Sport again. We'll have Olympic quality training and facilities.

It's nice to daydream. But I assure you that's what I'd do with a very large portion of my money if I had it to spare.

Now it's your turn to share three things. Whatever is on your mind. Anything at all. No matter how lofty or potentially unrealistic.