2018 XC has reached the Finish Line

Well it was a really successful season.  Both teams ended up taking a ton of hardware to the house and in the end they both made it to Regionals!!! So Sampson had probably his best race at Districts this year and helped pull the team through.  Our senior that had finished first for the team all year, cramped up and finished 7th for the team and everyone thought we were toast and that he had run his last race and it was really sad because he had done so well all season and had probably his worst race of his career on his last race.  It was really similar to how Sampson ran last year, like so similar that their times were within 3 seconds of each other.  Anyway when I saw that he was hurting and fading back I started running around and telling Sampson that he was going to have to pick it up and it was up to him to help the team, well all the boys really if they were going to advance.  And wouldn't you know it, it was crazy the way they picked it up and finished top 4, with the top 6 moving on to regionals!! Sampson actually qualified on his own and the boy who would have been 6th for the team end up finishing like 45th overall and that was plenty to move on.  Our senior got to redeem himself at the regionals and took the top spot back for the team, but no one was able to advance to State :(.  On the bright side we did get experience at regionals, oh and the boys that did score in the district, well they are all sophomores and freshmen so the future looks pretty bright.  Oh and one other thing, Sampson got named to the All T-L team for the news paper.  Anyway here is a link to the end of the season video which was pretty sweet.  Coach's husband made it (Coach is a woman so its cool) and she never lets him hold the trophies and stuff, but like he totally should and it would have been awesome if he snuck a pic of himself with all the trophies at the end, but he didn't.  Just would have been cool.

 

Also here is my view of the Parade.  It was pretty cool and you can see it in the first video, but this is what it looked like when they passed me.

The Tale of the District Race of Aught '17

Well it is almost District race time, so it seems like a good time to recap the race from just last year.  You see it was Sampson's first district race last year and it is really good for a freshman to run as a scorer for a high school team, but it may not be the best thing.  You see (man used that two in row to start a sentence, no worries, I'll fix it next sentence) he ran really well for most of the season.  He was hurt in the first race (which I didn't get to see because I had to go to New York for business, and I actually moved the trip back so I could see him run, but it was too muddy so they moved the race back a day and I ended up missing it.  And then we ended up not doing the project at work anyway so it was a complete loss.  Going off topic a little here) and he set out the next 2 races then scored in the 4/5 spot for the team basically the rest of the season.  So the make-up of the team was 2 seniors, 1 junior and the rest of the scorers were freshman.  Yikes, right?  Well they were pretty good last year even with the inexperience, but the inexperience came out at districts, at least for Sampson.  You see (hey it been a couple sentences so it's cool to go back to the old stand-by) he ran his best race of the year the race right before districts a PR of 17:34 (which stood until this last race, now it is at 17:12) so he was feeling really good.  His prep for races wasn't the best though.  We never got overly involved in the prep side of the races, we just kind of let him do his thing and just tried to make sure he didn't over do it the night before.  Well for the district race we did the same thing and he looked fine when he got there.  He started out well, in about 4th for his team probably somewhere around the top 30 or so (top 24 qualify for regional)  and I'm watching him go up the hill and around the school, so I hustle to the side to see him come around.  I get up there and I see the kids he was with and no Sampson.  So I'm like did I miss him.  Then the other freshman on the team comes through and still no Sampson.  So he would be like 5th for his team.  I keep waiting and waiting and now I start getting a little worried.  I can't remember if the other kid came through or not (also a freshman), but when I finally see Sampson he is like gassed...bad.  He grabs his chest and says his chest is hurting like he is really cramping badly.  So I go around to the front of the school and he is really slowing, Sophie is closer to the finish and she is waiting there and getting worried and she sees a kid collapse.  Well he finally finishes, but he does get passed and finishes 6th for the team a little of 20 minutes and ends up at like 103rd in the race.  Well the team finishes 11th or so and he tells us his prep for the race.  He drank a cup of milk.  For like 18 hours.  That is all he had.  No water, just one cup of milk.  That is not efficient to be at top race form.  So this year he is hydrated regularly, and he is taking his race prep a step further.  He is doing ice baths the night before.  The team is similar to last year, but the seniors are gone, the junior has stepped up to the lead spot, Sampson is probably the number 2 guy (he has finished as low as 4 for the team, but not lately), there is another sophomore that is 3 (and has finished no lower than 3rd for the team), 2 freshman and another sophomore for the next 3 spots.  I don't think the team is as top heavy as last year, but I think as a whole they are much better.  Our 7 and 8 are also a freshman and sophomore.  So the future is bright, but they did win the OVAC and have won about 4 meets this year, so there is a chance they can make it to the regional.  I hope they do, but last year there was only one team from our area that made it, and they have their whole team back this year.  Sampson's team has beaten them this year, but last race they actually tied and it came down to the 6th man.  Which our guy was better.  But one thing I am sure of.  Sampson will be hydrated before this race.  Well I'll try and check-in after the race and let you know if the season continued or not.  Hopefully they do.  Also I'll give you a update on the girls team.  #TheFive.  Totally made for a movie.  Hey maybe I could get a bit part in the movie.  I could be the guy at the race that brings the staff.  You know "Race Staff Guy".  I have the staff already, could be pretty sweet.

The Long Way Home

Pretty much a photo that should be up for some kind of award. I took this while me, Peach and Sampson were out for a run/walk.  Well mostly a walk for me and  Peach.  Sampson took off and left us, so we just kind of looked for cool walking sticks and what not.  Anyway Peach wants to be famous so here goes.  I edited it again, here is that version.

Proof of Slow Motion

Just messing around with some of the google picture features and trying to link to blogger.  I took a video of Peach yesterday and in slow motion it looks half way neat, but at regular speed it is hilarious.

NBA 2018-19

Couple of things I wanted to get down so I could look back and not believe how incredibly wrong I could be in the future.  Well now that the disclaimer is out of the way here we go.

First I think Mo Bamba is going to be a bust.  Just saying.  This guy reminds me of Hasheem Thabeet or however you spell it because man that guy was bad.  Any way, I think he is in the same mold of player and I just don't see all the hype.

Luca Doncic will be ROY.  Book it. 

Grayson Allen will be top 3 in ROY voting or at least make the first team. 

Golden State will win the championship (really went out on a limb there).

Lakers make the playoffs, and so do the Cavs.

Butler will end up in Philly, or not.  Sampson says Toronto (HA!) we'll see.

I'm going to watch a ton of games because we got LEAGUE PASS!!!

Ok that is all for now. 

Warble Watch 2018

Just so everyone knows Sophie has not had any warbles yet.  yet...

'Ol 5 hundo

Just as an update the old blog passed post 500 there a couple of post ago.  Up to 503 now.  Only took about 14 years.  Wow.  Been blogging long?  Yeah about 14 years, I just said that.  Hopefully I can get to 1,000 in a little under 30 years.  Well at the rate I have been going lately it may be more like 50.  Anyway thanks for reading and have a nice day 😁.

Queen of the Court

We are also doing volley ball this fall.  That's right, Peach is taking the court for the first time in competitive volley ball, and it is about the most exciting sport the kids have played.  No seriously.  About every 20-30 seconds someone is scoring a point.  So the if the game is out of hand, no worries it will be over in about 30 minutes.  It's a close competitive game that is going back and forth...well that may take a little longer, but you are guaranteed some suspense.  Kind of like what we got tonight.  The girls dropped a tough one, 28-26, 16-25, 28-26.  Just back and forth the whole game and they were trying to do some higher level stuff and miss hit the ball so you can live with because they are trying to get better and you know at some point that will pay dividends.  Right now they are 5-4 with a revenge game tomorrow.  Hopefully they play well.

Sophie and the Spiders

Ok so Sophie is saying she got bit on the face and the spiders laid eggs in her cheek.  I say she is full of it as spiders won't lay eggs in flesh.  At worst it is fly eggs and she'll have a warble or something.  Guess we'll find out in a few weeks who was right.

Ahhhhh Fall weather, are you ready for some... cross country?

Not what you were expecting huh?  Well I wasn't either, at least not about 5 years ago, but at some point this summer I found myself looking forward to cross country season.  Not for myself, but for Sampson.  You see we did the football thing when he was little and around 5th grade he decided he didn't want to play anymore.  Fine by me that was when all of the head stuff was starting to come out and it really didn't bother me that he didn't want to play even though I think he could have done well.  But I didn't know what would take its place.  Well he decided he would run cross country in 7th grade.  I think some of this came from him running a 5k at the end of basketball season as a 6th grader and he put up a time of 24 minutes, right out of the box.  Me not be experienced in the way of the 5k didn't know if this was good or not.  But after 5 years of racing if an 11/12 year old can run sub 25 with no training, that is pretty darn good.  He is now in the 18 minute range as a sophmore so I was getting excited as the season got closer to watch him run.  You see the great thing about cross country is that you can show up at race time, watch your kid race for about 20 minutes (the less they run the better) and when it is over you can leave if you want or stay and support the rest of the teams, for like another half hour or so.  Or you can go to a "team" sport, sit for 2 or 3 hours waiting to watch your kid play for 5 minutes and then spend the entire post game complaining that your kid should be playing more, but they have the wrong name or the coach is an idiot... but I digress. (I think I used that correctly...yep pretty sure I did)  In cross country you get what you get, if you are good you are in the top 5, if you aren't then you aren't.  There is always the possibility that one of the top guys will have a bad race, and if that happens you could sneak into the top 5, but for the most part it comes down to how well you can run.  Watching Sampson run when he was little, this really wasn't the sport I would have picked for him, but as it turns out I think he has an extremely good natural form for distance running.  Kind of funny how the sport found him, but he has done really well at it and he even met his goal of getting all conference already.  Well there is still a good bit of the season left and hopefully I'll be back on the blog and can tell you how they do.  Also if there is time I'll tell the tale of last years district meet and the cramping situation.  Oh it is a good story.