It's Sunday morning, the last day of Christmas Vacation for the boys, as JP returns to school tomorrow and Joe on Tuesday.
For today, after coffee at Dose, it's donuts from Dunkin' Donuts for church, church at St. Patrick with the family, Belmont basketball at 2 p.m., basketball practice for Joe at 4 p.m. and baseball practice for JP at 4 p.m., followed by youth group for JP at 6 p.m. Oh, and I want to get a run in at some point.
For now, though, in the quiet before the busy storm, I want to talk about yesterday.
Joe played basketball at 9 a.m. and 4:20 p.m., at J.T. Moore and MBA. Fortunately, his soccer practice at 11 a.m. in Antioch was canceled.
I loved Joe's game yesterday, especially on the offensive end. He was more aggressive shooting the basketball, which is what I've been looking for from him. He managed to get more shots up while still running the Bucket Squad - great name - offense from the point. There was a sequence in the second half of the first game where he took three or four shots in a row and missed them all. I loved the aggressiveness, though, because it takes confidence to shoot the ball, and shoot it again, when you're not particularly hot and another teammate is calling for the ball. Believe me, at age 11, all of the boys call for the ball all of the time.
After an easy win in the first game, the second game was with a group of boys that were down a coach and several players. Their coach asked our coach, Thomas, to take the reins and bring a few players. The game was disjointed, as you might imagine, with a team of boys comprised of three or four players from separate teams. Still, Joe's team won by 15 points or so because the other team was not very skilled. My only complaint was I thought Joe could have hustled more and played a little smarter in guarding the only kid on the other team who had any game.
As Rex's grandfather, Jack - whom I have known for 30 years and used to play basketball with at lunch in the Uptown YMCA - said at halftime, "There's only one player on that team who could play dead in a cowboy movie and we're not guarding him!"
He was right.
Last night, JP ran in the KYI High School Indoor Track Meet at Vanderbilt. Over 1,300 high school students from multiple states competed in what was billed as the largest indoor track meet in Tennessee history. Several of JP's cross country teammates were running in various events, so JP decided he wanted to run in the 1 mile race, just to see what he could do. Although he's in the middle of basketball at MBA, why not? It was JP's first track meet, indoor or outdoor, and my first indoor meet.
It's interesting because JP has continued running with his cross country teammates over Christmas vacation even though cross country season obviously is over. His teammates are training for track season and JP has trained with them. Some day over the break, he has met them to run six or seven miles, then gone straight to basketball practice. Why? I think - I don't know, mind you - but I think it's because he really likes spending time with his cross country teammates and he's been bitten, hard, by the running bug.
At any rate, the meet ran way behind yesterday, which apparently is par for the course. I dropped JP at Vanderbilt at 5:30 p.m. or so, after Joe's basketball game. He quickly texted Jude and me to tell us that his heat (3 out of 5 total) likely wouldn't run on time and 7:30 or 8:00 p.m. To be safe, though, we arrived at 7:15 p.m. He was right, of course, because he didn't run until well after 9:00 p.m.
I was glad to have a chance to walk around, though, and take in what was really quite a spectacle. Runners, runners, and more runners everywhere. Sprinters. Distance runners. All of the kids with supportive parents and family members to cheer them on in their respective events. Dedicated runners, all. I loved it.
I struck up a conversation with a group of mothers whose sons and daughters run for Daniel Boone High School in Washington County, near Johnson City, TN. Very nice ladies. Apparently, Daniel Boone has quite a cross country program, as many of its runners go on to run in college. One mother I met, Tera, had a daughter (senior) running the mile (she's committed to Appalachian State) and a son running in the 2nd heat of the mile (sophomore), who probably will run in college, too.
Two of JP's senior teammates ran in the 1st heat, which was for the older, stronger runners. A young man from McCallie won the race, finishing in 4:13. Fast.
As JP's group, which included his freshman teammate, Gabe, lined up for the 3rd heat, I realized I wasn't as nervous as usual when he runs, probably because I had no idea what to expect. I knew he was in excellent running shape but he had never raced a mile - five laps around the Vanderbilt indoor track - so he likely had no idea what to do in terms of strategy. I deliberately didn't talk to him about it - which has been my approach in cross country, too - because he has to figure that stuff out on his own. Plus, what could I possibly tell him that would have any merit, given that I've never run at the level he runs.
Suddenly, the starting gun went off and I was startled out of my silent reverie. The race was on!
I had positioned myself on the turn just before the homestretch. As the boys ran by me, JP was near the rear and, in fact, as they completed the first lap, he was in dead last out of 15 or so boys, although the runners were still bunched up into two groups. He was stuck on the outside, too, which I didn't like.
Well, I thought, this isn't going like I thought it would. Still, it will be a learning experience for JP. A measuring stick race for him. Nothing wrong with that, I told myself, as I began considering the encouraging words I would have for him after the race.
As the boys began the second lap, I saw JP begin to pass a few runners on the outside. That's interesting, I thought. Good. Let's get a respectable finish and build on this.
As JP passed me near the end of the second lap, my heartbeat quicken a bit. He was running effortlessly. Perfect posture, shoulders back, breathing easily, in his element. It was at that point that I knew - I mean KNEW - I was about to watch something unexpected, maybe even something amazing.
And I did.
"Let's go, Noos!" I shouted as he passed by me on the fourth lap, running easily and cleanly in the lead group of runners. They were tiring. He was not. That much was clear to me.
As the runners began the fifth lap and entered the first turn, JP grabbed the lead. From last to first! I jogged closer to the finish and looked across the track to see JP still in first, running strong.
When the boys made the final turn, JP was still leading. As he approached me near the finish, I saw the second place runner - a kid from Father Ryan that was used to play baseball against - begin to sprint and close ground behind him. I could tell JP didn't see or feel Chris C. right behind him but I also could see that JP didn't have a spring left in him. In the last 10 yards, he passed JP with a strong finish and won by one second at the most.
Great finish. Great race, by far the most exciting of the five heats of the mile.
JP showed the heart of a lion, the heart of a champion, really. A 4:41 mile in his first indoor track meet.
Afterwards, he said he really enjoyed the race. I could tell he was proud of his performance in that quiet, calm way of his. Not boastful, not arrogant, but confident.
One of the coolest things about the race was about halfway through, as I was pacing, I walked by a group of his cross country teammates and overheard one of the coaches or parents - I'm not sure which - talking about JP to the boys as he began passing runners and moving closer to the lead pack.
"That's what makes him different. His competitiveness. Look at him run!"
I couldn't have said it any better myself.
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