Butt Busters!

For the record,

there is no way in heck

I would run at top speed toward something waist high

and then attempt to jump over it!

I have so much respect for those

who can hurdle!

Michael tried it for the first time a few days ago

and while he jumps a bit unconventionally,

he does clear the hurdles with ease.

And he actually LIKES doing it!

Yes, he is my son,

but I don't know where this gene came from!

Michael came in third in the 8th grade hurdles.

Madison and I held our breath the whole time.

We were afraid that he'd trip on one of them,

and we'd have to embarrass him by

frantically running onto the track to pick gravel out of his face!

But he flew over them like they were nothing.

Thankfully he remained gravel free all afternoon.

It was so fun to watch!

Michael also ran the boy's relay.

Here his team is strategizing over how they were going to run it.

It is a very strong team and

Michael ran the second leg of it.

His adrenaline kicked in

and he was able to give the third guy a nice lead.

I just love watching this boy run!

Love. It.

Michael's team came in first for the relay,

and Michael was so pumped!

He had told me earlier that he was not going to be running

the 200 like he had planned.

Some of you know that he fell in the hallway at school

a few weeks back and bruised/cracked his tailbone.

It kept him out of track for a week and a half,

and caused him to miss the first meet,

but he finally went back to practice and ran

a bit last Friday.

He still has alot of pain, but is able to push through it

most of the time.

When they called for the 200,

I saw him line up for it

and thought that he must have a boost in confidence

after that relay win

and maybe wasn't having as much pain as he thought he would.

He came in forth, but I could see that he wasn't really pushing it.

When I could see his face, I could tell that he was in alot of pain.

When he was showed his time,

I heard him say,

"That stinks! I couldn't run my best!"

As soon as the timer left, he went to his knees

and crawled to the sideline.

He was in so much pain!

Poor guy!

His coach brought him a bag of ice to sit on.

Madison ran right over to make sure he was OK.

I love seeing that sibling love in the middle of all the

"Michael SHUT-UP!"

and "Madison, you are so annoying"

rants that we get daily!

In classic Michael style,

he still manages a smile my way.

Gosh, I love him.

Ice-sitting.

It's not for whimps!

Michael's good friend,

(and a regular at our house)

Darien tried to comfort him.

Michael says it was on Darien's

"Come on man, you can do this

and you will score some points for us"

post-relay win cheers

that Michael decided he would run the 200.

So naturally Darien was the one to make sure Michael

got the ice bag immediately

and he sat with him until

Michael could get up.

Yeee-ouch!

If you know the pain of a bruised/cracked tailbone,

you can surely sympathize with this face!

After about 20 minutes,

and a sufficienty frozen derriere,

Michael was able to get up.

I'm so proud of the job he did!

He put his all into it despite being injured

and really did well without all engines firing.

He's a rock star, that boy.