The Fight in the Dog

Oh man! Today was kindergarten field day at Chaddy's school. I had no idea what I was going to see. I thought maybe some cheesy events that don't even border on competitive...like water balloon tosses, etc. I am actually impressed with field day...they ran lots of really cool races. They had hurtles...little kindergartener-sized hurtles. And the races were long. I mean they are really pushing these kids. I love it!

Anyways, Chad, for whatever reason, has decided recently to really practice running as fast as he can. Every chance he gets he runs wind sprints. He wants to be timed. He wants to beat his time. He wants to do it 20 times in a row. The cool thing is he is getting a lot faster. Practice really does make perfect...that's what my dad always said.

The kids got to sign-up for 5 events each. There were 5 events that were races. Guess which ones my little man signed up for...so cute.

And I was worried about that because as hard as he has worked, he is just a really little guy. But I knew he would give it all he had.

His first race was the 50 meter...kind of a really long sprint. He looked great. He got second in his heat. I was proud! Then he ran a 200m, which looked so long. I wondered how this one would go. He was super fast right at first and then he got really tired about half way...2 kids passed him and he got 3rd place. He let the last kid catch up with him (on purpose), so that he could blow past him in the end...a bit of a mean streak...we are trying to use these moments as 'teachable moments'. I am sure we will have a conversation about that later. Anyways, he did a relay and the hurtles and those were really fun. And then the last race of the day was the 300 meter run. I thought the 200m looked long. He was stoked to get up there.

He looked calm and focused on the start line. The little boy next to him kept inching up to be ahead of everyone else. I thought this would distract Chad, but he stayed put waiting for the whistle. All of the other little boys were so busy trying to inch their way up that they did not get a good jump off of the whistle. Chaddy had a head start and was leading the pack. He was strong for the first half and then you could see the others start gaining. All of Chad's class was screaming at the top of their lungs for him, as the other boys were getting closer and closer. When he made the last turn, I thought for sure the little boy behind him was going to be able to pass. Chad was fading fast. He was not smiling. His face was in anquish, mustering every bit of energy he had. The faster the boy behind him would go, the faster Chad would go. He would not let him pass. IT WAS AWESOME!

He ended up beating the other little boy by 1 step. I couldn't believe the determination I saw in his face coming down that last stretch. It was precious. He is not the biggest, but he sure works as hard as his little body will let him. I am so proud of you Chaddy! You keep working hard no matter what! Kashubas don't give up!

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