Monday, June 8, 2015

Run Dax Run!

6-8-15

Holy cow!

I am relieved that the track meet is over. I was such a nervous wreck about Dax running. I worried he would fall or not do well and in turn be upset. That would have crushed me.

Bobby and I got to West High super early and determined we couldn’t get in the track. The school told us that they wouldn’t be opening the gates until 3, which certainly would have caused problems for the spectators that had already started arriving. This would have been especially bad since the meet started at like 3:30. Luckily, the people inside who were setting up recognized this and opened up much earlier than that. Bobby, my parents, Matt and I all found a spot right by the finish line. Sure, we should have probably sat with more of our school parents, but I wanted to be where my boy would be running across the line.

Dax looked quite nervous at times. He of course sat in the field where his team was. There were so many schools! There were 17 total and the teams filled the football field. It’s funny how I had been looking at our track team and thinking it was huge, when next to other schools our team was tiny!
We went and watched Dax do his long jump. He wasn’t great at it, but he did it and was pleased with himself, which is all I care. I still think he would have done better at the soccer ball kick, but it was pretty apparent how unorganized our team was. All the other teams marched into the stadium in uniform, some even had mascots. Our team didn’t even have our track shirts yet.

His race was at 5:40, and they were probably about 30 minutes behind schedule overall. When I watched him go over to get his number and tracker for the race I am lucky I didn’t hurl. Ken and I made our way down to the fence around the track so that we were right there when he crossed.
Dax’s heat was the first one and the gun sounded the start. I watched my boy book it down the track with crazy speed. It being only 50 meters, it was a quick race, but I am telling you, watching him run seemed like it was hours. But then he crossed the finish line. The timer said 7 seconds, which was outstanding! He beat everyone in his heat. Now we had to watch I think 3 more heats before we knew his fate.



The time clock there indicated based on all the heats that Dax had the fastest time. Yet Dax won 2nd place. Look, I am thrilled. I was especially happy that he looked so happy. He stood up on that podium, grinning proudly, which filled my heart with so much joy. Of course, there then was the picture.


They were selling pictures of the kids crossing the finish line. Our understanding is that these were the compilation of the racers over all the heats. It showed Dax was in first. Of course, we could be wrong, and this could have been just his heat, but there were also different times across the board. I hate to gripe, but if my kid won, he should be recognized.

Ken spoke to some officials, and they kind of agreed that Dax had the best time. Sadly, they had already handed out the ribbons. Look, I agree it would be a dick move to take back the kid who was awarded first place. However, if Dax really was the fastest, in ordinance with their whole good sportsmanship angle, they should give my kid a blue ribbon.

Of course, my mind wasn’t thinking this kind of rational at the meet. All I cared was how happy I was that he was so happy. I sat back in the stands, knowing that we would be there till the end even though Dax was done. But then it happened.

I watched the 100 meter dash and there was my kid, sprinting across the finish line!



Dax was tapped to fill in for another kid who didn’t show. He then brought his A game and kicked butt on that, too! I didn’t have time to be nervous, which was super nice. He placed second and once again got to stand on the podium.


Sadly, we bought that picture, too, and it showed Dax as the winner again! Dude!

The Torrance Rotary is the group putting this on, and they are supposed to be posting pictures of the meet soon. I am hoping that once they do, I can find a contact name to email so I can get some questions answered. I am not trying to rock the boat, but I want to make sure that in something like an official race, my child should be recognized correctly. If they say it was just the heat and he still didn’t have a better time over the 1st place winners, no worries. I won’t even be a little upset. However, if he did have the best time, I would like them to just acknowledge it. Hell, they can send him the ribbon in the mail. It doesn’t need to be a big deal, just a quick shout out. It is the correct way to conduct themselves in this matter.

The whole meet was a lot of fun. There was one annoying chick who was sitting in front of me that was practically sitting in my lap which was rude, but I made do. I managed to get a little sunburned, and my tushie was sore after sitting on concrete steps for that long, but it was all worth it to see Dax walking proud.

Saturday morning was registration time. It was a shockingly quiet day. I wonder if the multiple tournaments for multiple sports going on that day was the cause for the low turnout. Then again, I wasn’t really too upset since we do tend to have a lot of fun hanging out.

Jimmy had ordered me a pin and patch that said Regional Treasurer, which made me all happy. It was perfect timing, really, since I was all frustrated at the board meeting when the travel coordinator was giving me attitude about my reports. Thankfully, even Jimmy noted this and felt it was out of line, so that was cool to have him concerned. He even texted me Friday to check on me, knowing that the line of questioning at the meeting would frazzle me. It made me feel much better and once again pleased to be a part of such a great group of people.


Saturday night took us to the StubHub Center to watch the Galaxy game. We went with Jerry, Nicole and Ally and we had a lot of fun. I didn’t expect to laugh as much as I did. Honestly, a lot of that was more watching the boys be all excited about the game. I feel bad because I made us lose, though. I happened to leave during the game so I could sneak off to get the boys each a Galaxy scarf. These scarves are apparently a huge thing and you need to hold them up during corner kicks and things like that. I wanted them to be a part of it, so I thought I would go right before the half and beat the crowds. Sadly, during that time, the other team scored. It was surprising since we were dominating most of the first half. They did not recover and the Galaxy lost 1 to 0. It was still a great time, and our seats were cool. We totally lucked out, too, since the bench in front of us ended up being empty, and no one sat on either side of our group which allowed us more room. Truly, it was a good time had by all.




You will all be shocked to hear that Sunday I didn’t do anything. Ok, I did some small things, but mostly I sat on the couch and watched tv all day. I forced myself to relax since let’s face it, I don’t do it enough. I know I should have worked on cleaning since my party is Saturday, but in reality, I do better work when no one is around, and I have much of this week to work on it. After work each day I will bust my butt for a couple hours and come Saturday, the place will shine. I will have extra time on Wednesday what with me going to Dax’s play in the morning and then having the rest of the day. Then again, I may be hanging around a bit to help out in Bobby’s class since apparently our room rep is in charge of the snack Wednesday and since I happen to have the time I would love to help her out.

I am glad I have a work week that is spaced out a bit what with me working two days, taking a day off, working, then taking a day off for the Olympics on Friday. The one thing I know for sure for Friday is I will slather myself in sun screen and bring my chair. Dax is running his race again and Bobby does the obstacle course. We are allowed to check them out at 12:30, which Bobby was quite anxious about whereas Dax wanted to stay so he didn’t miss recess. Those two are night and day.

Only 2 more weeks of school, so here’s to hoping there is very little homework or headaches.  


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