Second Time Track & Field Charm?

"My thoughts before a big race are usually pretty simple. I tell myself: 'Get out of the blocks, run your race, stay relaxed. If you run your race, you'll win....Channel your energy. Focus."~Carl Lewis

This evening our school will participate in it's second Varsity/Junior Varsity Indoor Track & Field Meet of the year (at the RIT Field house--pictured to the right), and I am feeling much more confident in my role as an assistant coach. Last week, at the seasons first event, although I felt well-thought out and prepared, there were a number of snafus, most of which stemmed from my inability to properly work my stopwatch to capture splits for races of a variety of distances.

For many of the athletes, as well as for myself, it was the first meet, so such goof-ups were expected and, as my colleague often reminds us, "there are some things we can't practice in the halls or weight room that only going through it will teach you..." and so it was last week. This time I was sure to better prepare my papers for taking notes and splits, and purchase a clipboard with a "built-in case" for holding heat assignment, parent contact info and other potentially necessary materials.

Unfortunately, unlike last week, my daughter's team will not her running this evening (they are in a different "Class"), but rather will be running tomorrow at the U of R, a meet I'll likely miss due to my having signed up for a road race of my own. Luckily, there will be plenty of more events this year during which I can both watch her and our athletes compete, so (hopefully) things will continue to move ahead (well, maybe two steps forward, one step back anyway)!