Good News and a Baseball Game

It’s always fun to start a conversation with good news, so…let’s start with some good news!!!!

DS#1 had hockey tryouts this weekend.  He wanted to try out for the team he had been on in the spring, but he had to miss their first tryout on Wednesday because he was at church camp.  He came home from camp late Friday night and then went to the final tryout on Saturday afternoon.

Now, you might remember (if you’ve been around my blog that long) that we had been on a travel team for the prior two years (a total of four seasons), and I was manager of that team.  Obviously, as team manager’s son, he was pretty much guaranteed a spot on the team.

When that team fell apart in what turned out to be an extremely unpleasant way (at least, for me) in February and March, it was hard on us all.  I had to clean up a big mess, while poor DS#1 had to learn the “real” world of hockey—you don’t always make the team you want to be on.  He actually tried out for three teams this spring and did not make the first two.  I think it was harder on me than him—I hated seeing him so down, because he loves hockey and just wants to skate.  But obviously, the world works that way, and it was a true life lesson for all of us.  He did finally make a team and we were very happy with the outcome—he improved tremendously, and he had a lot of fun.

The good news, as you can probably guess, is that he made the same team for fall!  He was so happy, as were my husband and I.  This team was very good to us in the spring, and as an added bonus, they were all very enthusiastic about my photography.  So that means—yay, more hockey pictures!! 😉  Stay tuned this fall…

But there’s more good news!  Somehow, both of my boys have decided to join me in my running obsession!  I do think DS#1 succumbed to a bit of the competitive spirit when he came home from camp and found out that DS#2 has been running with me and was signed up for the ½ mile dash at my next 10k event.  (Hey, a little sibling rivalry never hurt anyone. 😉 )

They both ran with me twice this weekend, and DS#1 was able to run half a mile on his first try. I let him use my Garmin for the run, and he did very well.

The three of us ran again on Sunday, doing a run/walk to account for DS#2’s pace.  (Remember, he’s only six!)  Monday morning, I had three miles scheduled, and DS#1 asked if he could join me for part of it.  It was really hot, but I didn’t want to discourage him, so we agreed he’d run 6/10^th of a mile in an out-and-back route, and then I’d continue on to run the remaining 2.4.  He did a fantastic job—so much so, in fact, that I actually had to work to keep up with him for that .6 miles! 🙂  After I “dropped him off,” so to speak, I continued in the run.  I was quite hot, but I did my best to go at what I consider to be a moderate-to-fast pace (for me!).

I learned something new today about my Garmin: I discovered that if I manually set a lap (which I did at .6 miles so DS#1 would be able to see “his” pace), it won’t set another lap when it reaches 1.0 miles. It waits until 1 mile from the FIRST lap, which turned out to be 1.6 miles!  Once I figured that out, I then manually set the lap again at mile 2, so I would have a full mile lap pace at the end.  Here’s how it all shook out:

Kind of crazy, but DS#1 was thrilled to be able to see his own pace. 😉

After working all day, I took DS#1 to the Tigers game with his spring baseball team.  They had an opportunity to go on the field before the game, and he was really excited about it.  While he waited to go on the field, I went up to our seats.  We ended up in the “cheap seats,” but considering the heat (93 degrees when we arrived), I was happy to be in the shade where there was a breeze.  And it was a nice view of downtown Detroit.

They had a lot of teams there last night; you can see them all lined up on the grass in this shot:

DS#1 had an absolute blast.  He told me when he came up from the field after the ceremony: “I was less than 50 feet from Alex Avila!” (He loves to play catcher, and Avila is therefore his hero. :))

Now for a true confession:  I hate baseball. 😛 Not enough excitement for this hockey mom. 😉 However, although the game was boring at first, the excitement picked up after about the 5^th inning, and we even stayed all the way to the end to watch the Tigers erase a 3-run deficit and beat the Angels 8-6.  And best of all, it was fun to just hang out with my oldest after missing him for the week he was away at camp.

Thanks for reading!