A triple meet week

The last intense week of track season is behind us. April really came at us relentlessly, and now we have emerged into May, with only one high school meet per week from now on, and only one remaining middle school meet in the season. This week, however, we had three track meets. Technically there were four meets, but none of us had to go to the high school JV meet so I'm counting this as a three-meet-week, plus two days of high school parent teacher conferences that go until 7:30pm. Anyways, on Monday morning when I pulled out of the garage to drive Jay to seminary, I made the unpleasant discovery that we had yet another irrigation pipe leak. This time it drained into the low spot north of the barn on our driveway, creating Lake Jay for the second time this year. Jeff shut off the valve in question and I called the company that installed our system. A few days later, the lake in our driveway was mostly gone and the offending pipe was capped. 

Lake Jay returns! The name of this driveway lake was much disputed among the kids the first time it appeared in January, but somehow Jay's name stuck for the second flooding.

Jeff had parent teacher conferences on Monday and Tuesday (April 29 & 30). Rose and I had a middle school track meet an hour away on Tuesday. We got home at 9:51pm. Jay and Rose had church youth activities on Wednesday. Jay and Jeff had back to back track meets in Wenatchee and Seattle on Thursday and Friday, respectively. They got home at 10pm on Thursday and 12-something AM from Seattle. No track practice at ALL on Saturday except Jeff had to go unlock gates at the high school for the volunteer pole vault coach (volunteers don't get school keys) and I had lunch with the Relief Society presidency. Jay mowed the lawn (in sprinkly rain) and the girls tackled a new batch of backyard gopher mounds. Once we were all home and inside on Saturday afternoon, we all retreated and completely vegged all afternoon and evening. 

Middle school track meet in Naches, WA, on Tuesday, April 30th: It was raining when we arrived and there were puddles of standing water everywhere. My little team huddled under a roof overhang near the concessions stand until the officials kicked us out. Then we set our bags down in literal puddles (the bleachers were cement stair steps, built into the hillside, no drainage) and faced the frigidity. The thermometer temperature was 43 degrees, but once the rain stopped 45 minutes after we arrived at the meet, the wind picked up and the real feel temp was 38 degrees. Everyone was so cold! It was very interesting to see which kids on my team were resilient enough to rise to the challenge of the adverse conditions, and which kids let the obstacle of bad weather knock them down. At practice the next day, I gave my team a (hopefully) motivational speech about choosing to see a hard thing as an obstacle in our way vs. choosing to see the hard thing as a challenge to overcome. We didn't have too many PRs at that cold meet, but we did survive the cold wet! Rose ran a 6:34 mile and a 1:25 400m. She ran the second leg in the 4x100m relay, and threw the discus.

High school track meets: on Thursday in Wenatchee, Jay ran an 800 in a new PR of 2:23. On Friday in the Seattle area (Renton), Jay ran the 3200 in a new PR of 11:10. Perspective: an 11:10 two mile is back to back 5:35 miles. Jay has made so much progress this track season! He is not the fastest runner among his peers, but his dedication, consistency, and hard work pay off every single time. It is fun to watch. 

Jeff, head track coach extraordinaire, drove a school van to both the Wenatchee meet (2.5 hours one way), and the Seattle meet (3 hours one way). The massive amount of energy it takes to both drive AND coach long long long hours at meets cannot be understated. Jeff is still managing his health carefully and this is the healthiest he has been in May in the three years since he became the head high school track coach. I am glad he is healthier, but don't let that fool you--he has to take naps every day and he is rarely bouncing off the walls with energy. 

In response to my kitchen failures of last week, I overcompensated and cooked three big meals on Sunday and Monday. We ate those leftovers all week long, and they are still going strong! It was a relief to have enough dinners this week. There are four days of practice and one meet left in my second middle school track season as head coach! This year felt much easier than last year. We had no broken bones or concussions, sure, but I also just felt more comfortable being in charge of three dozen 13 year olds, somehow. On Thursday this week, the high school hurdles coach came to our middle school practice to do a hurdle session with my group of 12 hurdlers. I watched everything he had them do very carefully, and was surprised, relieved, and a little proud to find that the hurdle form, drills, and techniques that I have been teaching the middle schoolers were correct! YouTube didn't let me down! Hahaha. 

Little by little, I am getting a feel for how to craft age-appropriate workouts that can span the massive development, conditioning, and coordination gaps that occur in a group of 7th and 8th graders. Other than figuring out how to coach hurdles, another success I had as a coach this year was a workout I invented. I called it the "wild card" workout day, and the goal was to build aerobic endurance and core strength without the drudgery of going on a 20 minute jog. (in my experience, young/beginner runners simply won't or can't just "go on a jog.") In a wild card workout, the kids do one core or strength exercise on the infield (such as ten leg lifts), then run a lap on the track. After running the lap, they gather on the infield for another core exercise (e.g. 20 mountain climbers), then run another lap. Back and forth, back and forth. It keeps things interesting and I let the kids choose their pace when they run the lap, so they have control. I got the kids to run a whole mile this way. It is fun to try out new ideas on my team to find what works. The workouts that flop aren't fun, but finding a good workout is so satisfying! All in all, I am satisfied with the season. One more week!

Amber dutifully walks the half mile from her school to the middle school track every day to meet me there. Her school gets out so late that she usually arrives less than ten minutes before the end of middle school track practice. It's a pretty good system. Amber is always happiest when I remember to bring her an apple.

I took this picture last Sunday to document the ridiculous length my hair has grown to. I don't necessarily want it this long, but I really don't love going in to get it cut. So it is long and gets everywhere.

Rose, braving the cold to run the 1600 in Naches. Brrrr.

I took this picture from behind Rose because it shows the foggy cold low clouds hugging the hills off in the distance. Naches is the last town snuggled up on the edge of the Cascade Mountains on the way to Mt. Rainier, so the weather can be unpredictable there. 

After the meet, our cold wet team went to Miner's, the beloved traditional burger stop in our region. Kids order at the counter and listen for their number to be called while sitting in a huge room full of tables. Coaches eat free in the kitchen--they have folding tables set up in their actual kitchen, and they give you whatever you want to eat right there, for free. I was dreading this stop because in my memory, Miner's was super slow, but we were in and out of there in an hour. And they made me such a divine huge cup of strawberry lemonade! I was too cold to need a cold fresh beverage, but lemonade is my one weakness and it was so good. Thankfully the kids behaved out in the dining area. I only checked on them two or three times while we were there. 

Amber was proud of her perfect rice mound and wanted me to send this picture to Jeff while he was away one of those 4 nights this week.

On Thursday night, I was exhausted, but felt the need to interact with my daughters while Jeff and Jay were away. So they each chose a game and we played a round of Pick Two and a round of Sleeping Queens. My brain was like mush, but it was worthwhile quality time.

We took some silly selfies after our games.

It's starting to get pretty around here. On Friday morning, I went for a delightful run along the canal road, and felt all the seasonal good vibes.

Mt. Adams over mint.

Mt. Adams over the canal.

Mt. Adams over grapes.

On Saturday, I finally said goodbye to one of my old dead pairs of running shoes, and got out these minty fresh beauties for my run. That new shoe feeling is the best! Taking a picture of shoes while wearing them is awkward, haha.

The weeds lining our canal-road driveway are now blooming pretty delicate yellow flowers. While I walked up our long driveway after my run on Saturday, I took a few artistic pictures of the weeds.

I have zero pictures of Jeff and Jay this week. They were hardly home, and they don't take pictures when I'm not around. Oh well! They still exist!