March 10, 2017

We were all so nervous at Emma’s track meet.  The weather was perfect—a bit of cloud cover and slightly windy.  It was a beautiful Friday evening at the Snow Canyon High School track.  We got to watch the other runners go for about an hour before it came time for Emma and the 400.  There were five heats with eight runners each.  We had no idea how she would do!  To prepare ourselves, we were saying things like, As long as she isn’t last place…or, I just hope she doesn't fall…or, I hope she can make it all the way around!  We were so, so nervous.

She got up there on the second heat.  She looked good, but she looked nervous too.  We decided to stand at the top of the bleachers so that we could see better.  The gun went off, and Emma started running.  She looked great and strong.  She pulled out in second place and maintained her place to the very end.  We were screaming and cheering as she crossed the line.  She took second in her heat, only losing to a senior!  In the end, she just missed the top eight qualifying spots by one second.  She placed twelfth out of around 40 runners.  It was such a great race, and an awesome way to start her track season.  We were so proud of her!  

When it was all over, we kissed Greg and Lance goodbye, and Emma, Julia, and I got in the car to head to Provo for a volleyball tournament.  Emma was tired and hungry, so after a quick stop for food, we were on our way.  

When we first found out the track schedule, Emma was super stressed to think she might miss the very first meet because we needed to be at the volleyball tournament.  I'm so glad it all worked out that we were able to make it to both.  I'm proud of Emma and how hard she is working.  She also had the last day of the quarter on Friday and brought home another straight 4.0.  And in five of her seven classes she had over 100%.  Emma's got a lot of heart and guts.  She can really dig deep when she needs to.  I'm so excited to see all the places she'll go in this life.  I love Emma so very much.

This girl.  Running varsity as a freshman.  Way to go, Emma!