My daughter, Ainslee, had her first track meet tonight. She is a third grader, this is track club, run by the same town organization that runs soccer and other sports.
That is where the similarity to soccer ends, though. It was a chilly, cloudy, mercifully not rainy, late May night in MN. High 50s, and a steady breeze.
I took her, and her siblings, expecting to sit down, watch a few events for 1.5 - 2 hours from the comfort of my lawn chair, take a few photos, and leave. Silly me.
We got there early, a bit before 6:00, and it took us a few minutes to figure out the drill. Get a name card with stickers, then get in line as each event is called to register. Of course, that involve Ainslee deciding which events she wanted to compete in. I looked at the schedule. The last event was at 8:20, the 4 x 1600 relay, and she had already agreed to be on a team with other girls. So, I faced the prospect of standing around, borderline cold, for over two hours, with two boredom-prone siblings, mostly waiting around, between brief moments of watching Ainslee compete.
Fortunately, there was a snack bar. So I cobbled together a strategy of promising the kids a snack, but putting them off for a while before buying it, then rationing it, encouraging them to race each other in the infield, taking a quick trip to the adjacent playground between races, and of course cheering on their sister.
It worked pretty well, Anna-Claire and Seth behaved better than I could have expected. Ainslee competed in three events, taking two 3rds and a 4th, a very respectable showing. Oh, and they were running behind, so that last relay got canceled. Still, by the time she collected her ribbons, it was past 8:30.
10:25:18 PM 
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