Track

Miss Kat had a track meet yesterday at Greensburg.

Except it wasn't really in Greensburg, as they still haven't finished rebuilding their new school, track, and football field yet. Greensburg hosted the track meet in Mullinville, which is between Greensburg and Bucklin. It's a 10 mile drive for us over there. Kev and I got there before she ran her races.

She's got a beautiful stride, nice long smooth stride. No bouncing, smooth stride, legs stretched out, arms in front of her...she's a pretty runner.

Yesterday, she ran in two relays, the 4 x 800 and the Medley Relay. Often she's in the 4 x 100 and runs the 100 meter dash. She was only in 2 events yesterday. She was the first leg in both races. Their 4 x 800 (which used to be the 880 relay, or simply the 800 meter relay) took 4th place. We left before hearing what the Medley Relay placed, but by watching times of the heats, we think they placed 3rd or 4th.

Miss Kat's been having trouble with shin splints. Having had them myself, I know how badly she has been hurting. Kev brought home some Kinesio tape from work and taped her legs for her. It's supposed to help relieve the pain and allow the muscles to heal. Kat says it helps. I figure it can't hurt. The tape Kev brought home is a bright turquoise blue. Which came in handy. We just looked for the blond girl with the blue legs. Once we saw the legs, we knew we had the right girl!

Now, most teenage girls would die of embarrassment at having her legs taped. And, Miss Kat was the only girl who had her legs taped. (Kinesio taping isn't common yet in athletics around here.) Kat actually likes both the attention, and she likes being a little different. Which is good! She educated a lot of adults yesterday, as I saw several ask her what the tape was for. Even the guy with the starting gun was asking her about it. Who knows, she just might be a trend setter. (If you start seeing girls with blue tape on their legs, let me know.)

Yesterday morning, before the meet, Kat told us that she's slowing down. She said her times last year were faster than they were this year. Which I had trouble believing because she's usually the only 7th grader running in the relays. She's usually running with 8th graders, who are bigger than she is. And, she's grown so much this year, her legs alone have grown a mile! So, we asked what her splits were (her individual time, separate from the rest of the team). She had no idea. None what-so-ever!

I know she's running the 100 meters in 14-15 seconds; depending on the day. That's not slow! So, yesterday, my Dad brought his stopwatch to catch Kat's splits. He used to do that for me all the time, so he offered to do it for Kat. Except, he forgot to use it! He got so involved in watching her run, he forgot to check her time! I'll tell ya', some people...

Even so, Kat ran well. Her team had great hand-offs, they placed, and most importantly, all had fun. Kat enjoyed having us there, and she enjoyed running. That's really what it's all about, having fun.