YOU’RE TOO SLOW!!

During her junior and senior years of high school, in spite of her injuries, Leigh was always the heavy favorite to win the 2-mile race unless it was a championship event or a big invitational.  She usually ran alone, often lapping many of the other competitors.  In one such event, which I believe was a tri-meet (three schools participating), it was obvious that Leigh’s only competition would be her race to beat her own previous best time or to at least achieve what to her would be a respectable time.  It’s awfully difficult to run a really fast time if you have no one pushing you.  So, she decided to essentially race against herself in this race.  She told Louise and me what she wanted her splits to be – her time at the end of each lap.

As usual, I staked out a position along the fence near the track so I could yell encouragement as she ran by.  Louise was in the stands keeping time on her stop watch.  As Leigh came into the home stretch to complete lap 7 of the 8-lap race, she had opened up almost a 100 meter lead over the nearest runners and was cruising to what would be an easy win.  But Louise had noticed at the end of the previous lap that Leigh was a couple of seconds off the time she had set for herself for that lap.  Leigh flew by the start-finish line as the bell rang for the bell lap and the crowd cheered her on; the second-place runner had not even entered the home stretch yet.

Ah, but ever-observant Louise checked her watch and noted that Leigh was still a couple of seconds of her desired pace.  So, just as the crowd was quieting down, Louise cupped her hands to her mouth and yelled out as loudly as she possibly could (and she can certainly be loud when she needs to):

“Y-O-U’-R-E  T-O-O  S-L-O-W!!!”

Of course everyone in the stadium turned and glared at Louise.  It was obvious what was on everyone’s mind:  “Oh that poor girl.  She is beating everyone by over 100 meters, but her parents aren’t satisfied.”  A man standing near me at the edge of the track looked over at me with a puzzled look on his face; he knew I was Leigh’s dad.  I looked back at him and said, “I don’t know who that woman is.”