On deck and on letters

Matt and Hayley wanted to sleep outside last night. We've had beautiful weather this last week (this week should have been spring break for the kiddies) and they begged and pleaded and used puppy dog eyes on Jim and me (no, it is NOT "Jim and I" in this instance) until we relented. Actually I didn't know that I had relented until I woke up this morning and went out to the dining room and saw them on the deck in their sleeping bags. I hope that Jim knew that he had given his permission too.They are only about a foot outside the deck door, but hey, outside is outside. Personally I don't see what is so fabulous about sleeping outside on slabs of wood cushioned only by blue foam that wouldn't support a feather. Judging by the picture, they also read by flashlight on the deck. That makes my neck hurt just to think about it. Oh well, whatever. They enjoyed it and survived it and will probably want to do it all summer. I can save money on laundry, at least.

Paul ran in a "true team meet" today. There were nine teams and each team had their three top athletes in each event. Paul's event was the 1600m (1 mile). He was very excited for this meet because it was his chance to letter in track. Based on performance and place, the athletes are given points towards lettering. Paul already had 1 point for a top 6 finish in the first meet he ran. He needed 11 more points and if he placed 18th out of 27 in the 1600m, he'd letter.

So here he is at the start of the race. He's on the right in the dark blue jersey. He's standing next to Carl, the top runner in this event from our school. Paul is the second. The third place guy had to start a bit farther (further?) back.
One thousandth of a second into the race:
Third lap. He's looking remarkably undead, unlike what I would look like if I had to run a 1600m race.
Closing in on the finish line. Again, remarkably he's still able to breathe and his heart has not exploded.
Paul finished 10th out of 27, earning him 20 points! He lettered! Yay Paul! In fact, all three Prior Lake runners lettered. Congratulations Carl, Paul, and Josh!Paul said their team took fourth out of nine in the meet, which is a HUGE improvement over past meets. Theirs is a young team--half of the team is comprised of freshmen (including Paul). So there will be improvement over the next few years.

So you'll have to suffer three more years of pictures of Paul running. Can you handle it?

Comments

Dennis said…
Congratulations to Paul. He is gifted runner and I hope he goes far (pun intended). In one of the pictures he looks a lot like Dave. He told me last Sunday about this meet and he felt that he could finish high enough to letter. So he did and that's great.
Jen said…
Those crazy kids of yours. Mike would love to have our girls come to him one day to "ask" to sleep outside. As it stands now, Annie is realizing that camping may not be for her. She's made a comment that leads me to believe this.

Way to go, Paul! Cool pics with your new camera.