Days with the Dorans

Another track meet in the feezing cold rain (note- we are in late April now!). It was senior night for Joe (even though it was at Milford). We loved cheering for him! I'm so proud of him!! HERE is a video!  

  Ali was SOOO excited to find out that she was invited to run in a Varsity Meet. Of course Joey was there too and then left at the end of school so I had to join them later! Joey has been running so well! He now has a sub 5 mile but... I MISSED HIS RACE! I was so bummed! I literally got there to watch him cross the finish line. Thankfully Nana and Papa taped it (which you can see below... kind of). I am so proud of him! I love watching my kids run!! I did get to see Ali run (like HOURS later). It was so cold that we would go to the bathroom just to warm up our hands with the dryer. We also went and sat in the car for a while until it was closer to the time she ran. Since Joe drove separate. He left so he could go play music with dad! Ali and I tried to get to Pontiac in time to watch them play but we missed it! Thankfully, Joe set up a video HERE so we could watch it later! I did have one drink since we were already there. It was nice catching up with Dave and others.

  How much do I love that these two run? A lot. How much do I love that these two are friends? A lot. Ali in the 200 Joe in the 1600 (mile) The Girls- Took this off their Instagram Page!

  Just some track pictures from my phone.

  The kids ran well. Ali got 2nd in her heat but I only got one picture of me (though you may not have known it was me. Thankfully Joe got some pictures!

Yay for track season! I know Joe is not a fan but it is great training for XC! It was good to be back to sports outside and get some normalcy! Ali is also running this year which is exciting! She does the shorter races and Joey does the long races so Track Nights are definitely LONG nights!

So FINALLY got Joe some spikes- kind of crazy he did so well running in trainers all XC season. Loved the store we went to and even got some new kicks for me! Joe only ran a few months (once he decided to run) but he did pretty well! His PR for the mile was 5:15 and his PR for the 800 was 2:22. Can't wait to see what next year brings. Hopefully he'll keep running year round (a running mom can dream). Proud of you, kid!

Papa loves to run. Papa loves his grandkids. What better place to spend his birthday than to cheer on his oldest grandson at his first high school track meet. Joey did NOT really want to run track but he did train with the team and the coach said he'd love if he ran a meet so he decided to run. Joey says he hates running in circles but I LOVED being able to watch him his entire race! He did a great job! He's such a talented runner! After the meet, we went out to dinner to toast Papa and Joe's meet! Sto Lat, Papa! Great job, Joe!

Joe was not thrilled about doing track. Since it is pay to play (meaning you pay a flat rate so it was already paid through cross country), he ran. We figured it would keep him in shape for the fall. Joe ran two races. He ran the two mile and the 1/2 mile. He always ran the two mile first, had a short break and then ran the half mile. He always seemed a bit gassed for the half mile. His best 2 mile time was 13:37. His best half mile time was 3:03. Watching him run the 2 mile is my favorite. He has one pace it seems. He starts out in the back of the pack but little by little would pass many runners. I also loved watching his friends cheer him on. I know Papa loved watching him too.

I guess I didn't take too many pictures of Joe's track season. I'm bummed because his good friends Dom and Connor also ran with him which I think made it fun for him.  What we learned about Joe is that he isn't a sprinter! For the mile though, he'd start out in the back and little by little he'd pass people which was exciting.  He also improved his time and decided to run cross country again in the fall which we are all very excited about. I'm so proud of my little runner! Way to go, Joe! Seven Seconds of Running... :-D