pics and racing

This weekend was a big weekend for racing here in the hills. Younger son and I went to a mud fest on Friday night for him to race, he didn't really want to get but the competitive side got the better of him (and me-more on that later). He got 2nd and was excited. We spent the next day on the track all day. Of course it was sticky and muddy still and older son was not interested. He has been racing for 3 years and has only won 2 race.s He can be fast when he wants to be, especially when mountain biking but is tentative on the track and just backs off when other bikes are near him. He is always a good sport but the beginning of this day was an exception. He started off with saying he wasn't racing, to muddy, too hard, etc.... I did not have one of my proudest mom moments about the whole thing, walked him to the car, chewing him out the whole way. I remember the words "quitter" and "selling the bike" coming out of my mouth. Of course in front of people as we were walking-I know I sounded like one of the icky sports moms I despise. ANYWAY-he decided to race, we head back. As we walk he tells me how it isn't fun and he fakes having fun, but always being last is getting him down-and he is right he usually is last. I of course feel awful. I ask him just to try this one day and then we will decide from there. The kid just has this pattern of finding something that really interests him and wanting to be good at it but just hasn't made the connection of the effort equals the result. It doesn't help that he has to put a lot more effort than most-the athletic and coordination genes aren't very strong there. The end of the story ends happily though...

He gets out there and DOES NOT come in last AND makes the main event, gets a medal. You could not wipe the smile off his face for anything, he was the proudest kid ever-for now, we will see what the weekend brings.