Daniel

The Puyallup School District held its annual elementary school track meet, with competitors from 21 elementary students in grades 4-6.  David will get to participate next year; Daniel had a thoroughly enjoyable day today.  First, he placed 2nd in the long jump (grades 4-5).  Then, he anchored the relay team.  They had a bit of a rough exchange on the first passing of the baton, but still finished 7th overall (two teams per school).  Finally, the event he has been waiting weeks for – the 800 meter run.  Daniel is very aware of the rich tradition of Ethiopian distance runners, and in a way, I think his success in this area helps him feel connected to his native land and culture.  He is a gifted runner and it showed as he worked his way to the front of the pack and then pulled away for an impressive first place finish!  Click the photo above to see more.  Watch the video, which includes all three events.

Waiting for the start

Daniel signed up to run a 5K – his first – on St. Patrick’s Day in Tacoma.  He had never run that far (3.2 miles), but trained for a couple weeks and was confident he could make it.  David did not sign up because he had a soccer tournament scheduled.  When the tournament was canceled at the last minute, he signed up to run the 1K “Fun Run.”

The 5K start was an incredible mass of people.  There were 1,691 people of all ages and body types running the race.  Fortunately, Daniel was able to start up near the front with the other fast runners.  The weather was cold and wet, with rain and snow mixed – not exactly running weather.  The course started out downhill toward the waterfront so the runners had to finish by coming back up the hill.  We really didn’t know what to expect from Daniel, but his track coach figured he’d finish with a time near 20 minutes (an excellent time, especially for a kid).  Daniel finished in 19:43, which put him first in the 14-and-under age group (out of 45 runners) and 19th overall (out of 1,691).  Amazing!

David then lined up for the fun run and looked a bit out of place.  All the other runners were smaller kids, but he just kept a smile on his face and set about to run as well as he could.  The 1K was not timed, but he ran hard and enjoyed himself.  Next time (June 9), he’ll be running the 5K with Daniel.

On the video, we wanted to show the entire starting group of the 5K, but it just kept going and going and… well, let’s just say it got a bit boring so we cut it very short.  The finish was exciting, as he passed a couple people near the end of the race.  To see more pictures, click the one above.  We picked through them to reduce the number.

Daniel played with the Diamondbacks for spring soccer, and he will continue with them in the fall.  They play tougher competition than he has faced before, but he is very comfortable at this level.  Click the picture above to see some more.  He is so much fun to watch and we took a bit of video.  We only included a few clips here – in the last game pay attention to David’s commentary.  The final comment is made by their cousin, Mason.