Having a Field Day

Today was the first (annual?) Flyers Field Day.
Members of the running club met in Central Park for an afternoon of frivolity, and it was a blast. There was plenty of food, and lots of fun games.

I was placed on Team Red for a series of relay competitions. These included classics such as the sack race and the three legged race (we won both), but also some that were new to me.

On of the funniest was called... I have no idea, but folks were referring to it as "the baseball bat thing". In this game, each team member would hold a bat vertically on the ground, place their forehead on it, and spin 360 degrees 6 times. They would then have to run 50 feet to a cone and back before their next team mate could go.

Well, this turned out to be much harder than it sounded. Although no one had been drinking, our first runner swerved uncontrollably when trying to run. The next literally hit the ground, as did the next. Everyone was in hysterics.

It was then that my seven year old son came up to me and said "I could do that fast!". I was very surprised at this claim. Thus far, my son had spent the day blowing bubbles (that's him in the picture). He has always shied away from anything competitive with his peers, forget adults. I asked if he wanted to run in my place, and he said "OK", without a second thought.

He stepped up, and the team counted off his rotations -- "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6!!!" and he took off. He ran straight as an arrow, clearly smoking the field. Spinning around a few times may make an adult nauseous, but it doesn't even phase a 7 year old.

There were many more games after that, and I asked once or twice if my son would like to play, but he wasn't interested. It seems he knows about quiting while he's ahead, something his dad would do well to learn...