A day at the Track

I got a text from Olive. She is an assistant coach for Track & Field at our local High School. Since she started coaching, she hasn't really been able to do our weekly hikes.

She invited me to come and watch a huge conference meet in town. It has been since ages since I've been around any Track & Field events. so I watched some of the Field events early after I hit the Farmer's Market in town.

I couldn't find Olive in the mass of people so I took my goodies home and made sure hubby had some fresh strawberry pie. He said he was fine with me going back to town to enjoy the meet.

But the possibility of trying out 'action' shots was too fun to ignore.

These kids were defying gravity in the most amazing ways. I was fascinated.

When I got back, I found Olive's hubby with their son Aiden. Aiden saw me and came running over with a handful of dandelions. They pointed out where Olive was. She came running to the fence and expressed how happy she was I came.

I pointed to my messenger bag and said I came prepared with my camera but I needed to find a good spot to see the action. 

And then a funny thing happened. She called over the other coach and introduced me as her friend and neighbor. She followed with "Hey, she can be our official school photographer for the day!"

I was inside the fence and ready for a new challenge. I sure hoped I was up to it. 

Why not try something new and out of my comfort zone of Legos and Fungi?

I think the hurdles were the hardest to get shots of. But as more of those races happened, I started to figure out where to stand and how to follow the action. It took me a bit to be able to pick out our home team's uniforms.

As kids came in to check in with Olive, she introduced me to them. An exchange student from Russia and I chatted. Her expression didn't change a bit when I told her the last time I'd been on a track and competed for a school was in 1976. She thought for a moment and then said seriously.

But you don't look like you're of that age.

I enjoyed her company and all of the others. 

I learned to appreciate all of the effort that Olive puts into to her charges. She was in constant motion, running back and forth across the infield to encourage her runners.

Below she is encouraging a runner to really push through the finish line. She is that tiny lady with red hair and boundless energy.

The girls and boys set personal records and although I didn't keep track of who won what, I was impressed with the crowd of people supporting their teams and the young people themselves. 

The weather couldn't have been more perfect for everyone.

I have many more shots of the girls running but haven't really done anything with them yet. I may just go through and delete anything that looks awkward and then make a file and put it on an SD card for Olive to share with the kids.

If asked to do this again, I'd do it in a heartbeat.

Would I charge for it?

No, not at all.

The joy of being there would be payment enough.