After Far Westerns, we went into a very busy few weeks. Axel had his second WBAL track and field meet at Bellarmine. It was on Tuesday April 14th. Keith went, because he was leaving with Rubix to Florida on Thursday. Axel ran the mile, but didn't have a great field so it was difficult for him to push himself. He was on track the first half of the race and split 2:18, exactly what he needed to get his 4:36 he did at Dublin, but he slowed down a bit too much in the third lap. You can see the race below. He went out really well at a 1:05, which you could argue, might have been on the fast side, considering how much he slowed down, but it is difficult to push oneself. He finished in a 4:46, which is definitely still moving!
Keith and Rubix left on Thursday morning and flew across the country to Tampa Bay Florida. They were going to St. Petersburg for the ORCA awards, which were recognizing the top 3 male and female athletes in each age group from 9-14 and then 15/16 and 17/18 combined. They travelled all day and arrived just in time to eat dinner and go to bed. The next morning they met up with some of the other nominees. On the left is Gabe Brown, then Robert Legg, Rubix, unknown girl (Rubix can't remember who she is) and Annabelle Hayes.
After breakfast they went to the pool where they would be training and competing at later that weekend. Here they are after there morning training session.
Rubix, Robert and Gabe.
So fun!
They had a welcome gathering Friday night where the nominees and parents gathered together to receive congratulations for their excellent achievement and eat some pizza.
Rubix and Robert were still hungry so they went out for dinner after the gathering and ate a nice big meal!
Here Rubix is on the left, sitting outside the pool.
While Rubix and Keith were in Florida, Phoenix and I were at the first Long Course Meet of the season /Senior Open Meet in Concord. She had an excellent meet. I was able to hang out with her on Saturday without officiating or timing, which was such a nice treat. She did three events. The 100 Breast she dropped 2.31 seconds, getting a 1:26.57. The 100 Free she dropped 1.29 seconds finishing in 1:05.54. The 200 IM she dropped 3.91 seconds finishing in 3:35.53. She also sway the 100 fly, 50 free and 100 back on Sunday. I was only able to film the 50 free because I ended up officiating. She dropped .82 seconds in the 50 free finishing in 30.61 seconds and she dropped 2.38 seconds in the 100 back, finishing in 1:13.06 seconds.
Phoenix was really excited to get back to training looking forward to the two meets coming up the last two weeks of May, but on Wednesday April 22nd she had the start of a really bad sore throat, so much that I took her to the doctor the next day. She was negative for strep, but positive for mononucleosis!!!!
Before I just ahead too far, Axel had another WBAL meet on the 22nd at King's Academy. He planned to just run the 800 meter and then the 4 x 400 meter relay at the end of the meet.
He was pretty excited because he knew he had fast runners to chase and was hoping to have a big PR.
Unfortunately, his knees were hurting from the gun and he had knee pain the entire race!
He just wasn't able to push any faster, although he still PR'd with a 2:12, a second faster than the last time he ran it. You can watch him below if you would like.
DJ, one of the parents of a teammate, takes incredible photos!
Oops, the week before on Friday April 17th, Phoenix and I went to Karen's house to look at her beautiful Irises. She is the patient who gave me the Iris bulbs and regularly brings over the persimmons for our family to enjoy. Phoenix loved looking at her beautiful flowers and vegetable garden.
On Friday, April 24th, Axel participated in the "Last Chance" meet hosted by Mountain View high school. He came home absolutely exhausted at 4 pm. He called me on his way home asking about dinner. I had his dinner ready and he ate and went right to bed! After nearly a 2.5 hour nap he woke up feeling not great. He decided to head over and see how he feels during his warm up. Luckily, he felt great during his warm up and psyched himself up and raced the 3200 meters at 8:20pm.
On Saturday the 25th, Axel had prom. I dropped him off at Christine's house and her mom drove them, along with Jonathan, up to Samara's house for snacks and photos!
DJ, Samara's dad, is the one who captures the great photos of the kids racing during cross country and track. He also kindly captured the friend group for prom. Axel looks so handsome!
Christine's mom then took Christine, Jonathan and Axel from Samaara's house, which is up in Atherton, all the way down to San Jose where prom was being held. It was at Blanco Urban an upscale, multi-story restaurant in San Pedro square.
They had tons of great food, games, drinks and apparently disappointing music. The music was so bad it was hard for the kids to dance, according to Axel. After the dance the headed to Christine's house and Keith picked up there just after midnight.
Although Phoenix had mono, one of her close friends had a birthday party on Sunday April 26th. Her mom, who happens to be the vice principal of the high school at Harker checked with the head nurse and felt it was safe for Phoenix to come masked. Phoenix painted Ally her favorite dog, a Corgi. I just absolutely love this painting! She was excited to paint for the first time in a long time and blend colors. I am still so impressed with her artistic skills!
The lower and middle school had their combined League track and field finals on Friday May 1st. Phoenix actually tried to go to swim practice a couple of days before that on Wednesday because practice is only 90 minutes and she felt a bit more tired so I wasn't too excited about her trying to run, when I felt like it is important for her to rest. She asked to do just the 4 x 100 relay which I agreed to, but she did not run the 1200 or 800 meter race that she qualified for. I found out this weekend that she was quite upset about that and felt like she could have run.
Despite not running much, she was a great teammate and bigger sister, helping Rubix get to his events and warm up.
Rubix did well despite not feeling 100% as well. He placed 1st in the 400 with a 1:11, which is not his personal best, but still a great time if you ask me. You can watch it below.
Phoenix being a great big sister!
He had a great race in the 200 meter, getting his best time and racing his buddy, Rory with a split of a second difference of .04. This is an exciting video and one I would recommend watching below.
Both kids did the 4 x 100. Phoenix had fun talking with her friend Nathan, who is sitting next to her here. I thought it was funny she was talking while the other three girls from her relay were warming up. She joined them, but definitely prioritized her conversation with Nathan. :)
Rubix's team won the relay for grade 4 boys. They were screaming fast compared to the other teams and schools. Phoenix ran well. I actually don't think I have ever seen her sprint so quickly. I think it had something to do with Nathan, but don't let her know I said that. :) Despite her being upset with me about not running her events, she has been tired and hasn't yet returned to swimming. She really wanted to go tonight, but decided it was best to go to bed before 7pm, rather than swimming tired. I know it is hard for her to make decisions like this and am proud of her for doing so.
Tomorrow Axel has his League finals. We are still waiting to hear if he is running the mile. He is ranked 8th in the League for the mile and third for the 2 mile, which he will run on Friday. He also has the 4 x 800 tomorrow, so we will see how things pan out. He also has his end of year banquet on Saturday. He had his first AP test today, AP Bio. He has another on Friday and then next Tuesday. He is just down to 3 weeks before he leaves for Japan. We are also just 2 weeks away from a couple of swim meets and prepping for finals and the end of the school year. I hope to post early June, until then.....
