About a month ago we went to an All Comers track meet in Burlington. We got to the track an hour early and they had music playing and all kinds of cool stuff for Ryker to check out. He ran around like a crazy man, loving every minute of it. I didn't get very good pics of him practicing the hurdles because I took a video instead and have yet to freeze any frames for still pics to post.
I had to force him to stop running for a minute and drink some water. He was all over that football field and track, sweaty and red faced.
Chillin in the stands with Audrey and Abby. This is his serious for pre-race expression.
So now for the whole story. He was in heaven at this track meet. Playing for an hour, climbing the bleachers, practicing the hurdles.....then came race time. We lined up with tons of other kids. They were calling under 2 kids so we got up toward the front of the line. The girls were first and Ryker was excited, clapping and cheering as they ran. He really wanted to run and I thought the under 2 boys would be next so I was telling him he was next. Well he wasn't....they went through all age groups of the girls first. Ryker was mad, sad, freaking out. Some other under 2 year old boys started crying and screaming too, but they didn't finish with a tantrum like Ryker did. FINALLY they called for under 2 boys. He lined up behind the line and was ready to run. Then they decided there were too many lined up so they were going to have two heats. Guess who got bumped to the second heat? Yep, Ryker. He was MAD! He kept saying, "Ryker run, Ryker turn." Another little boy that had been crying dropped out at this point and his Mom took him off the track. We waited. It was again Ryker's turn. Ready....Set....Go! Ryker slowly walked from the starting line to the first hurdle, kicked it over, picked it up, and began dismantling it. I couldn't figure out why he was walking and I was encouraging him to run like he had for the hour prior to the actual race, but he had one thing on his mind. Apparently he was going to take his frustration out on that micro hurdle. Anyway, I scooped him off the track as everyone was laughing and drug him out of there. After that, all he wanted to do was get back to the track and run in every race. Every time I put him down, he took off toward the starting line. We finally just left and he was whaling all the way home. He rarely cries and doesn't ever throw tantrums. He had so much fun in the beginning, but the grand finale trumped that so we haven't been back. We're going to the last one tonight though, so wish me luck. We're going an hour early again to play, run freely, and listen to the music. I'll gage if I think he (or me) can handle waiting in line for the races. Now that I know how they do it, we'll stay toward the back until the girls are done and maybe we'll make it out without hurt feelings!
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