Bundesjugendspiele

This morning was Adeline's track and field day with the school. The kids warmed up for the numerous events by walking the 20 minutes to the track and field. The kids competed against their other classmates in a shot put, long jump, sprint, and long run. Last year, Louisa beat all of the girls in the running events and the entire class knows Louisa can run fast, so the girls are not very enthusiastic about running. Going into the event this year, Adeline asked Eric for some help in running as she was nervous about the long run. They went out to the track on Sunday afternoon to practice.

The first event of the morning was the shot put. She threw average for the girls and she knew she was not the best at this event. Then came the long jump. She crossed the line and fell backwards on one of her attempts, but the other two were successful.

Adeline competed against Louisa for the 50 meter sprint. Adeline won the sprint. The kids cheered during the race and she was so surprised she won. Afterwards, Louisa told her she tripped up at the beginning, so that is why she was not as fast this time.

For the 800 meter race, all eight girls lined up to start the race. With butterflies in her stomach, Adeline asked Eric to run along with her for this race because she was nervous and excited. When they said go, the girls all started running and Louisa took the lead. By the first turn, Adeline was even with Louisa. As they ran across the back stretch, Adeline was out in front of the entire group by at least 20 meters. Everyone was cheering for her as she came through the straight away where everyone was at. She continued to lead the group around the next turn and down the back stretch. Meanwhile, Eric was jogging along with her and encouraging her as she went, plus trying to help her pace a little bit as she was running faster than needed. As she was running into the last turn, all of the other kids started running along with her. Eric let Adeline run it out on the last stretch as it became congested with the kids and parents. She kept running and everyone kept cheering for her and Louisa as they approached the finish line. In the last meter before the finish line, Louisa caught Adeline and beat Adeline to the finish line by one second. 

Everyone came over and said congratulations to Adeline and Louisa and commented on what an exciting ending it was.  We are very proud of Adeline for trying her best and having fun. She improved greatly as she went from sixth place to second place this year in the long run and won her heat in the sprint.