Day 1

So, now that I have so much time on my hands, I need something to do. It has been two weeks since I have quit, and so far all I have done is watch Netflix. Luckily, it was a break so I could get away with it. But now that break is over and school is starting again, that will not be happening. Sunday night before school, my mom and I were talking about school sports. So I texted my friend Daisy, and she told me she was doing track, and practice started sometime that week. I had nothing better to do so I thought I might as well try it out! Well, that wasn’t exactly my mind set. Even when I got to the high school I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go to practice. Daisy and I convinced our friend Ali to go to track with us. Oh, I forgot to mention track was that Monday. So, as we walked into the high school, I was still trying to convince Daisy and Ali that we should just go to Ali’s house instead. But they convinced me to go. The coaches started talking, and I had no idea what they were talking about, so I just followed Daisy (who did cross country earlier in the year and knew what she was doing) and ended up going with the long distance runners. 

Daisy and I in our uniforms!

This may be kind of sad to some of you guys, but the most I have run before is three miles. This was also the last time I ran distance, period. And it happened to be in May. It is now February. Nine months ago. If you know anything about track, (which I don’t), you would know the longest distance you run is two miles. WRONG. Well, kind of. Yes, in meets, you only run two miles, but not in practice. The long distance coach begins telling us about our training schedule and goals for the year. Everyones goal is to run ten miles by the end of year. TEN MILES!? WHO RUNS TEN MILES? Not me. For sure. Ali and I look at each with the “ARE YOU CRAZY?” kind of look. Then I look over to Daisy, the experienced one, and she has the “no big deal” face on. Alright….looks like we are running ten miles today. Except that didn’t happen. THANK THE LORD! Ali and I ran four miles (which is the most I have ever run. Yes, I know. Hold the applause.) and everyone else ran eight miles. So I guess you could consider my first day of track a success.

Secret Sister

Recently, a handful of the Mini’s moved up to level six. They are ages seven through ten, and they are adorable. Our coach, Katy, decided we should have a bonding activity with the new level sixes to help them feel welcome to our workout group. So one day, she put all of our names into two buckets, one with the big girl’s names (that would be me), and the other with the little girl’s names. We each drew a name out of the appropriate bucket, but we were not allowed to tell anyone whose name we drew, except for Katy, who kept a file in her computer. This person whose name we drew was now our secret sister. Our job as a secret sister is to give a small gift, card, or some sort of encouragement to our secret sister. And, of course, we have to keep it a secret from everyone. Well, kind of. We have all shared within the two groups. The big girls shared with the big girls, and the little girls with the little girls. So whenever a big girl is setting up their gift for a little girl, the rest of us keep watch and make sure no little girls intrude to discover the secret. 

Having a secret sister is an ongoing process. It is fun to see the reaction of our teammates when they receive a gift, or how excited they are about an idea for their secret sister. The other day, I received my first gift from my secret sister. It was Valentine’s day, so she decorated a card, and gave me a water bottle filled with candy (sour patch watermelon, my favorite!). She wrapped it up and put it above my locker at the gym. It was adorable. 

The adorable card from my secret sister

This same day I also happened to give a gift to my secret sister. I gave her a Valentine’s day themed box of chocolates, and wrote a note. My group, the big girls, kept watch for any littles while I set up my present in my secret sister’s locker. The next day when I came to gym, my secret sister had a whiteboard setup on the outside of her locker saying “thank you s.s!” (we all sign our gifts “s.s” for secret sister, which reminds me of a funny story….) That note made me feel as good as receiving a gift of my own. I love having a secret sister to give to and receive something from. It helps remind me that someone is watching me and believes in me. 

So, time for the funny story I mentioned earlier. The first person to receive a secret sister gift was Patrisha. She is the youngest of the big girls, and gets to gym late because of school. So one day, she comes into the gym and asks me, “Do you know who’s initials are S.S.?”. I didn’t, so the two of us went through all of the names on our team, but no one had the initials S.S. I asked her why she was wondering and she told me there was a present and a card in her locker signed S.S. I told her I had no idea who it was from. Of course it never occurred to either of us that it was a secret sister gift. Duh! So about a week later in the car (we all carpool from school to gym) it had somehow come up in our conversation and one of the girls in the car said, “Um, I’m pretty sure it stands for secret sister…”. WOW. My team and I are pretty special. We had about a five minute laugh attack that day.