hand off the B A T O N

Happy Mother's Day!
It's been a nice Sunday. Flowers. Breakfast. Cards with thoughtful words. Time with my men.  For me, perhaps my greatest Mother's Day gift came in the way of a track meet yesterday.

Once again, Ty has struggled with hurdles this track season. Shin splints have been his greatest enemy. Even with Motrin, massage and ice- they don't go away. He's had a really rough couple of weeks.

click on picture to make it larger...

From what I've read and have been told they require rest.

Lots of rest that doesn't come with a six-week track season.

I think at this point, it has become a little mental- he's tired of hurting and actually hasn't practiced with the mid-distance runners and hurdlers for the last two weeks.

He knows he can do better than he has and is tired of being in the middle of the pack.
So, he's made the switch over to throwing disc and shot along side Justin.

He's been excited with improved throws every day. I've been frustrated he hasn't been running and doing hurdles.

Coach mixed things up this weekend with their schedule at the meet. Both Justin and Ty threw shot and disc.

Justin placed first in both. Ty did great for his first meet throwing. More than anything, they both did well and had fun- together.

Next up, coach put Ty in the meet running hurdles. I was nervous especially since he hadn't practiced all week. What was he thinking?
Shockingly, he did really great.

Unfortunately, coach entered him in the exhibition run which equates to his time not counting and no points for the team regardless of how well he did.

We knew he had a good, clean run but didn't realize how well because his name wasn't announced when they read times off.

He went down to check out his time only to realize he had a qualifying time for Europeans.

His best run this season and it didn't count. Coach told him he's going to see if he can get it recorded and count. Regardless, Ty knows he can do it and can repeat next week at their last track meet.

As if that wasn't enough, the highlight of the day was the last event- the 4x400 relay.

I'm not sure if coach was trying to be funny, or what was going through his head but, both Ty and Justin were in the relay- on the same team. 

Justin was pretty happy to pass this guy up and take an impressive lead...

I never dreamed I would see the day.
To top things off- Justin was 2nd leg, Ty was the 3rd leg meaning Justin would be handing off the baton to Ty. Something that always makes me nervous.

They were the thrower's team... none of them runners. As the race got closer- they each became a little more nervous.

Stephen would start. Justin and Ty were second and third. Nathan would end up the race as anchor.

This mama was too in spite of them having nothing to lose and just going out for fun.

They did FABULOUS. Each of them!

We couldn't believe our eyes as we watched them race. Starting his leg in second place, Justin built a great lead which Ty improved upon.

It was so much fun to watch.

They came in first in their heat, third place overall with split times possibly under a minute each.

Even better were the high five and hugs at the end of the race. Another thing I never thought I'd see and it brought tears to my eyes.

Shortly after, Justin felt the need to throw up. Good thing this was the last event of the meet.

When you have kids who don't really like each other {putting it mildly} their entire lives- then turn the corner {quicker than I thought would ever happen} and actually like hanging out together and get along- it's a gift.

I'll take it.

Happy Mother's Day.