Disco Fever, followed by Track Team Report

First off, I am NOT drunk in any of the photos. Let's just get that out of the way before you all start making judgements. That means, that yes, my girlfriends and I are, in fact, crazy. My friend, Mandy really deserved a good party this year, so we planned a little disco-themed surprise for her. Yep, everyone in full costume. Hehe. That was pretty much the highlight of my week from a social standpoint. Leave it to the ladies to have a good time. We sang karaoke, danced, and pretty much acted like fools. Here's the evidence. The first pic is the b-day girl, followed by a pic of us showing off my boots and her leg warmers. Hehe. The third is my friend, Summer and me. We actually did not PLAN to match like that, but both ordered similar outfits- hers a pants suit and mine a dress. The last pic is not everyone. (We had like 40 people there.) Those gals and I got there early to set up everything. Unfortunately, Mandy's brother (leave it to a man to screw up a surprise) got her there EARLY, while we were setting up. That stank, but she was still shocked and grateful, even more so when everyone else arrived.





Alright, so the track team. Well, this was first full week of official practice, and overall, it went very well. I mean, we're not about to win any meets or anything, but base building is in full force. I have two complaints about the athletes. #1- some seem to hate running, yet they are on the track team. That's one I don't get. #2- they are SOOOOO out of shape. Like, many can't even run a lap w/o walking. The good thing is, I think slowly, but, surely, they are building a fire in their bellies to compete and to do their best. Also, I have seen some amazing things out of the middle schoolers. We used yesterday as an endurance day. I had the sprinters doing some easy work on the track, and I took the distance people out some laps around the school campus. One lap is 9/10 of a mile. I told the kids to keep it easy, but to keep moving for 35 minutes. I was pretty impressed. I ran with the high school boys, and we ran 4.5 laps. Of course, I probably ran more than that, b/c I kept looping back to check in on the sprinters. (The assistant coach was in there watching, but he was mostly working with the fielders.) The awesome thing was that one little guy- a SIXTH grader, kept up with the high school boys the WHOLE time. Wowzers, he's tiny, too, only 70 lbs.

I also started a little motivation project. Each week, I am giving a "specialty" award. The kids seem motivated by this, even though it's just Gatorade and a little certificate I made myself. This week was "Eagle Attitude" award, for two kids that had worked extra hard during the week. I chose one high school sprinter guy that had helped the middle schoolers a LOT the week before, plus he seems to be a great role model, in general. The other was a little girl in 6th grade that pushes it EVERY time. She even cried at the end of one workout, and after talking with her, she said, "I'm just so tired." Then before she left for the day, she gave me a hug and said, "I love this." Haha, a girl RIGHT after my own heart.

Alright, I've also made some changes to my OWN training, which will be addressed in an upcoming post. Happy weekend and running, friends!