Run Like The Wind

I spent the weekend driving back and forth to Peoria, IL.

Just for a little geography lesson, Peoria is about 3 hours from my Chicago home and about halfway between Chicago and St. Louis, MO.

Once you get out of the Chicago, most of the trip down I-55 (part of the infamous Route 66) looks like this.





Beautiful green grasses, cloudy but never ending skies and corn plants as far as the eye can see. Soon these corn plants will grow high enough to obstruct the view of the farms as you drive by, but at this time, the scenery is just gorgeous and very different from my Hysteria Lane.

and Eureka! If you were actually to stop along this road -which I didn’t this time- you’d see quite a few Presidential attractions for Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan.



I went to Peoria, IL this weekend because my son, along with his three running buddies, made state in track in the 4 x 100 meter relay! How cool is that?! My son was thrilled, but he didn’t have high expectations of doing well there.

I’m no sports authority and honestly, before this year, I had no idea what a 4 X 100 meter relay even was, but I’m the mom and I’m entitled to be psyched.

“Nonsense”, I said, “If you made it, you have as good a chance as anyone.”

Even if it wasn’t true, I think you have to go in with the “we can win this” attitude. If you don’t think you can win, you won’t.

We finally arrived at the track at it was much grander than I had expected. The track was enormous and chock full of athletes and their cheering families. The excitement in the crowd for these kids was electrifying. It gave me goose bumps.

The announcer gave second by second details because, no matter where you were, it was hard to see the entire track. It did sound a bit like a horse race, except they used school names instead of horse names, but you get the idea.

Finally, my son’s turn to run had arrived! He is usually the 4th runner in this four man relay, but since he’s been having knee problems, they’ve moved him to the third position.

I can’t even describe how thrilled and proud I was to see him on the track among these other amazing kids at state! I screamed and jumped up and down like nobody’s business and nobody else’s mom, that’s for sure! I know this because my daughters' (and the lady next to me) gave me the teenage eye roll, which means I am embarrassing them terribly! Too bad!

Here’s Danny (to the left in the royal blue shirt) waiting for the baton pass from the second runner. They’re behind several other runners at this point. I thought my kid was fast. And he is fast, but some of the runners throughout the day already look like Olympic contenders. I couldn’t believe the level of talent from 7th and 8th graders. We heard later in the day that one 8th grader broke a 4 minute mile. That’s just incredible!



And off he goes! That’s Danny at the top of the picture. Run, Forrest, Run!



And Danny passes the baton to the final runner in the relay...



I couldn’t see the end from where we were sitting, but they came in last in their heat so there was no way they could place or medal overall.

But, like my very wise sister says “being last at state is better than not being there at all, right?”. So true!

My son may run like wind, but I'm walking on clouds! I can't even express how proud I am and what an exciting day it was. These races come down to fractions of a second and my son and his teammates are winners no matter what place they finish! They are amazing!

You'll get 'em next year, Danny!