Hurdles

Chelsea…this one’s for you…

When I was a sophomore in high school, for some reason my track coach thought that it would be a good idea for me to run the 100 yard hurdles. Now I am only 5 foot 2 inches, so I thought that was a little strange but since I was a cheerleader I could get some height, so I tried. I practiced a lot…everyday. I knew that I wasn’t any good at the hurdles (jumping in the air while running is not an easy thing), but I was getting my athletics credit, so whatever.

What I didn’t think about was the chance that my coach would put me in a track meet…and a varsity one at that. I will never forget the day. My dad came to watch. I told him not to but he did anyway (I didn’t want to embarrass him). I remember lining up, such tall girls to my left and right. I knew that they knew they were going to smoke me. Suddenly the gun fired and we were off…well, they were. Did I mention that I wasn’t very fast either?

With all that I had, I ran to the first hurdle. My head was trying to coordinate with my feet the steps…run, run, run, jump. Before I knew it, I was up and stumbling over the first hurdle…knocked that one down. Maybe I could make it over the next one…nope. Soon, there was a long line of hurdles lying behind me. Every single girl had crossed the finish line and I was still knockin’ em’ down. Needless to say, I didn’t place, but I didn’t get last place either…a girl fell and twisted her ankle and had to be carried off the track…she got last place (well, in my mind she did). So that was the end of my hurdling career.

Several years later, I was at my parents’ house and my youngest sister and I were hanging out in the living room. Suddenly we saw a wasp flying around us. Survival mode set in and we both took off running. She ran down the hallway, I, on the other hand, headed for the couch. I thought I would jump over it and hide behind it. Well, just as I was about to clear the backside of the couch, my back leg got hung and I along with the couch toppled over. It was like a bad stunt gone wrong. I laid there on the ground with the couch on top of me hoping that my sister hadn’t seen what I had just done because I could just imagine what it must have looked like.

As I collected myself and raised up, I saw my sister in that silent laugh mode…you know, it is that moment where you are so overcome with emotion that nothing will come out…that was her. Suddenly she belted out laughing and I did too. We laughed so hard we cried.

Note to self – you are not a hurdler.