Thursday, November 16, 2006

Of Runners and Steamrollers

While most American sports fans are busy thinking about football season, it’s track and field season for American schools in North Africa.

The dirt mounds aren’t really the result of gophers. Also, I didn’t think of this on my own.The good news is the progress toward developing our track and field – both our facilities and our athletic program. It’s encouraging to see the improvements from even two months ago.

Forget the steeplechase and high hurdles. We’ve got ‘dozers and steamrollers.



The bad news is that our kids have to dodge bulldozers and steamrollers during track practice. Folks, I’m not joking. Today I had athletes running 200-meter intervals and sometimes running around moving machinery as they came around curves.

Also, we need to do something about those gophers at the far end of the field...

2 comments:

Jed Carosaari said...

I know I don't know much about sports, but just a thought: Maybe they'd run faster if the athletes didn't stop to move the machinery at every curve?

Then again, maybe that's part of your training regimen.

drh said...

The running surface is indeed an obstacle course that changes daily and, verily, moment-by-moment during the afternoons.

While circumnavigation was what I had intended to communicate, you raise a point that merits consideration: If I could train my shot putters to develop Herculean strength by relocating machinery through brute force, I’d like our chances of scoring some points in the throwing events.

Currently, the prospect of getting flattened by a steamroller or shellacked by a bulldozer is providing our runners that extra incentive they need for digging down deep and finding another gear.

I leave it to you to figure out who's been driving the machines.