4x4

Yesterday we missed what may have been the highlight of our son's year in high school sports. He is on a track team for the first time, a very different experience than playing on a soccer team. First off, there are probably 100 other students on the track team--a lot more than on the soccer team. Second, it's a whole new technique to learn. Yeah, there's a lot of running in soccer, but he is learning how to run a race. And while there are a few team events (like the four by four), it's mostly an individual sport.
I am still learning all the terms for the distance events that I never paid much attention to during the Olympics. I get the eye-rolling, head-shaking treatment when I mess up. "4x4" is the 400-meter relay (4-person team), "4" is the 400-meter race, "32" is the 3200-meter distance race, and "distance medley" is a crazy relay race where the first person runs 800 meters, the second runs 1600 meters, the third person runs 3200 meters, and the last person (the anchor) runs 400 meters. I'm sure I've got that wrong.
Anyway, at the track meet yesterday, our son was the anchor of the frosh/soph boys distance 4x4 (the sprinters have a different relay team). It was one of the last races of the meet, so all four schools' worth of track teams were hanging around watching. The varsity boys distance runners had already run their relay, so even they were cheering them on. My son's team was ahead by the time it was his turn to run, but around the 200-meter mark the other team's anchor began to pull ahead. "But I found something inside," our son said, and beat the other runner over the finish line. They won! And I missed it. I'm really really sorry I didn't get to see it. But on the other hand, it was pretty great to ask him how the meet went when he got home and hear him say, "Awesome." And get the blow by blow description of his win. Maybe that was even better than trying to share his moment when it happened.
He took the bus home from the meet. I think he is enjoying his independence.