First Track Meet

On January 6, Nina participated in her first track meet.  It was a meet that the coaches selected athletes for, so Nina was very excited to get the opportunity to go, however she was defintely a bit nervous as she knew she would be among experienced athlethes and didn’t want to seem out of place.  We weren’t nervous about Nina’s ability to compete, but we WERE nervous about her shoes arriving.  We had ordered them before Christmas, but they took until the afternoon before we left to arrive.  Even though she didn’t get to break them in before the meet, we were breathing a sigh of relieft when they arrived.

The meet was at the New York Armory in New York City, and because Mark and Lyla had soccer over the weekend, Nina and I went up together on Saturday to the hotel where the team was staying.  We went out to dinner that evening with a big group from the track team, and despite the long wait for a table and food, Nina and one of her teammates enjoyed playing table games while we waited.  The athletes all got a good meal, then we made our way back to the hotel for showers and wind-down time.

The team had breakfast together at the hotel the next morning, then it was off to the Armory.  Our hotel was just outside NYC, so we all paired up with others and took Ubers into the city.  Being at the Armory was a very cool experience.  The venue is unique and houses the National Track and Field Hall of Fame as well as an awesome track and field center. 

   

For this first meet, Nina competed in the 55m sprint, the 200m, and the High Jump.

 

She just started high jumping a few weeks prior to the meet, and since they only high jump practice once each week, she had only had four total times ever trying/learning high jump.  She’s doing great with it, and we were really proud of her for putting aside her jitters and competing in the event even though she’s so new at it. Here’s a short video of one of her attempts: https://youtu.be/aPkTCpqC3yg

 

   

She really enoyed running the 200m.  It was the last event run of the day, so it had been a LONG day there for everyone, but the 200m is a very exciting race.  She felt great about her race, so it was a great event to end the day on.  

 

By the time our team’s portion of the event was finished and we Ubered back out of the city to the hotel (where we left our cars), it was already getting late on Sunday night.  We were starving, so we stopped for some fast food and gas and thankfully didn’t hit any traffic on the way home to make it back by 12:30am.  It was a rough morning for both of us the next day as Nina had to get up and go to school, and I had to get up and teach Body Combat, but we were glad that Nina’s first meet was a good experience.  She really enjoys her team, and even though this is all new to her (coming from a couple years in tumbling and competitive cheer), she is working relaly hard, and we’re happy that she’s enjoying herslef as much as she is.

 

Two days after we got home, Lyla got to get her cast off after five weeks of being immobilized.  Needless to say, we were all very happy about that!  Her wrist was definitely sore for a couple days afterwards, but thankfully she’s feeling back to her old self now with no complications, so we can safely assume all is well and healed.  YAY!!!