Springtime ! April showers and all that. Snow in the forecast. Must be Track Season !
One of those groundhogs must have been funnin’ us. March came “out like a lion” and trickled past April Fool’s Day, giving us this. (OFA quote : “Fools grow without watering”.) Just thinking about all of the athletes–we can even count baseball and softball players–out there in this weather, especially tracksters in those skimpy shorts & singlets, could give onlookers/fans goosebumps; ball players have uniforms with more to them, but still….
Garfield has, at long last, a home track fit for competition; just about everyone else does too,but this means that there can, once again, be home meets. Baseball and softball fields have been operational for some time–with scores posted and everything– but this is a first time in quite a number of years for home track contests–onward and upward! ]
Back in the day, the track was all cinders and we got to witness some pretty grim pix, especially around the finish line, when some runner made a last-ditch surge and did not quite make it, winding up with black grit embedded in his/her epidermis ( or deeper). Picking that stuff out was no picnic either, I’ll tell you.. One of the most courageous finishes that I ever saw was a downed runner who got up and staggered across the line simply to finish and get the points for the team..
I’ve seen them bundled in winter garb until the very last minute, then strip down, pick up a baton and take off through snow flurries (Meanwhile, the rest of the squad shivered at their designated locations waiting to take off with said baton when their leg came up (The legs were turning blue sometimes too.). Throwers have to wait around until their spot in the rotation is called, then heft up a freezin’ cold shot or discus, tuck it under their ear or around their back and heave the thing as far as they can. Brrrr ! At least somebody else usually fetches the weight back in so they can do it over again…but not always; sometimes when officials are short-handed, the throwers have to go get their own weights. Brrrr !
And then, of course, once we get through this chilly patch, we’ll have to begin the debate over the relative merits of different brands of sunscreen. If it ain’t one thing, it’s another.
