School Fun

Can you spot Hannah, Ben and Joseph?

Some of my favourite aspects of school life are the extra-curricular events:  Christmas concerts, BBQs, fun fairs and sporting events.  One of the traditional school events of the fall in this end of the Valley is the Partridge Run.  Its name is derived from its timing - partridge hunting season has just begun at the end of September when the race is run.  The kids tell me that if you pass another participant on the course, you are supposed to yell, "Partridge!  Partridge!" to give them fair warning. I don't think anyone feels confident enough to follow that rule.

All the kids run according to age group and gender, with the younger groups running an 800m course and the older students running a 1600m loop.  There are also two open 3000m events to close the day.  The top three in each category earn points toward an overall school total to determine which school takes home the trophy.  Hannah took home second place in the 1600 and later ran the 3000 where she placed fourth, sidelined by a cramp that hit her early on in the race.  (Jacob had to run her across the finish line cheering her on the whole way.)  I am told, by my husband, that I allowed her too much to drink between races, "Well, Elena, you can drink that much if you're out for a jog, but not if you're out to win."  Oops.

 Dave is, how to put this mildly, very interested in the school's sporting activities.  There is a running joke among teachers that the trophies tend to follow Coach Afelskie around.  Our own kids, demonstrating some familial running talent, were told that if they wanted to win, they had better start training in July.  So, train they did.  The kids logged 1-3km almost every day of the summer.  They ran to church, they ran to swimming, they ran around the neighbourhood and they ran barefoot along country roads in Nova Scotia.  (The latter was by far the most interesting training to watch:  the kids ran shoeless and in bathing suits on their way back from the beach, with us trailing behind at a super-slow pace in the van.)

 Dave coached the school and he coached his kids.  As his principal remarked when commenting on his mild-mannered personality combined with his iron-willed determination, "I didn't expect you to take this so seriously."  

 In one of life's great ironies, the night before the race Dave came home from school with the flu.  He took to his bed with fever and migraine and told me that I was now in charge of filming the races and tallying the scores.  I judged that he was not too sick to keep Sarah at home with him the next day, and so I secretly delighted that I would be able to attend the whole day without anyone to watch but the school kids.  (This did not stop me from several times during the day looking around me in panic as I wondered where Sarah had wandered off to.  Old habits die slow deaths.)
Ben also took second in his category, one place off his last year's finish.  Jacob finished fourth in the 1600 and eighth in the 3000.  As he later told me, "I would have placed if Dad had been there to coach me."  Perhaps next year, son.

 The biggest surprise of the day, and perhaps the season, was little Joe.  Joe has always been the slowest of our oldest four children.  On training runs he would reluctantly jog while the others kept up a steady pace.  At times he would even run backwards in a bid to make someone laugh.  However, about midway through the summer, something changed.  The smile dropped off his face and was replaced by a look of tremendous determination.

 He began to run faster and longer.  As his fitness improved he started to wonder if he too could win a ribbon at cross country.  We called him our wild card and wondered what the day would hold.

 I stayed at the bottom of the finishing hill waiting for the grade two boys to round the corner and begin the final stretch.  When they appeared, Joe was in third.  Jacob had positioned himself midway up the hill in order to cheer on Joe and encourage him to dig deep and run through the pain.  His eldest brother's tactic worked and Joe began to pick off the first and second runners.  I was so astounded that I began to jump and yell, "It's Joe!  Joe's going to win!"  I ran to the finish line and grabbed my mother-in-law in a bear hug.  (I was only slightly embarrassed by my exuberance when I later reviewed the day.)  I texted Dave and he responded with emoticons and exclamation marks.  Joe was so surprised by his win that he forgot to register at the table where the order of runners is recorded.  Jacob rectified his mistake.  I later asked Joe how he had managed to pull off a win.  He squinted his eyes, scrunched up his lips and said, "I don't know what came over me.  I've never run that fast in my life.  It just ... came out of me.  I am so tired."  That pretty much sums it up, Joe.  My other theory explaining Joe's win is that the baked goods table and hotdog stand are located another 100 m after the finish line.  I had told him that he had to wait until his race was over before he could buy any lunch.  Perhaps he was just hungry.

At the end of the day, Isaac summed up how everybody felt - hungry, tired and just a little bit accomplished.