The competition, including the #2 son in the middle, stays close during the first lap of the 800 meters.
Remember last Friday’s post in which a British reviewer of the movie “Percy Jackson & the Lightning Thief” claimed I was dim-witted?
Sidebar: I’ll wait while you re-read/read it; check out the 12th and 13th paragraphs. Ready to continue?
Apparently, Christopher Tookey was right . . . when it comes to photographing track meets.
Abhi shows his emotion as he runs to a win in the junior-varsity 800 meters.
After spending two years documenting the highs and lows of my #2 son during middle school track meets, you’d think I’d remember one basic principle of late winter/early spring in the Houston area: When the sun sets, it gets very cold. Multiple-jacket cold. Wish-you-had-a-blanket-and-the-Mister-to-cuddle-with cold.
Justin battles in the inside lane during the jv 100-meter dash.
I always take the lesson to heart . . . by the second meet. And I always forget it for the first one, leaving bruises on my freezing behind from kicking myself for only wearing one lightweight jacket. And a short-sleeve t-shirt. When will I learn?
As you can gather from the photos, high school track season has started for #2. He’s running in the freshmen division during junior varsity meets. In middle school he was a sprinter. Now he’s moved up to the 800 meters.
The light shines on the #2 son during the 800 meters.
#2 had a great debut at a distance he’d never competed at, finishing second in 2:23 (the winner, who is to his left, blew away the field in 2:09) at last week’s Bulldog Relays. Of course, I snapped a bunch of pix. When I was looking at the above photo on my iMac, I was struck by how the sun’s light seems to be striking only my boy. What a lucky photo break!
Reid is poised for his second-place finish in the freshmen 3200 meters.
But then I saw it again when I looked at photos of Reid . . .
Cody stays close to his running rival in the freshmen 3200 meters.
. . . and Cody in the 3200 meters. Perhaps something was, dare I say it, afoot?!?
Josh takes an early lead in the jv 3200.
Maybe it was just this part of the track that favored our athletes’ illumination.
Nick shines brightly during the jv 3200.
It seemed uncanny how the light shone only on our runners!
Owen stretches to hand off to Christian in the jv 4 x 100-meter relay.
The light seemed to follow our runners down the track.
Christian runs the curve during the 4 x 100-meter relay.
Great light for those who are light on their feet! Photography is all about light, and I loved what I had to work with.
Until the sun set. And it got dark. And cold. Very cold. Soon I had to increase my shutter speed to compensate for shiver-induced blur. That meant it was time to put my Nikon D700 and Nikon 70-200mm lens away and try to gather warmth from the small but hardy band of freshmen parents sitting in the stands. Yes, on aluminum bleachers. Frosty aluminum bleachers.
The team’s next meet is Thursday, when the expected high is 60 with a low in the mid-40s. I will be better prepared! I’m off to look for my long underwear!
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