[miami_fan]

Any youth track & field parents on the board? My cousin's daughter competed in a track meet at the University of South Florida this weekend so I got experience that for the first time. Some observations.

1. It felt like tailgating with a bit of sports on the side. Some of the tent set ups were amazing. I did not see anyone cooking inside the venue but good food that looked freshly cooked kept appearing on paper plates as I walked past different tents.

2. The parents were actually pretty positive from what I saw. Maybe I just caught a good meet but I saw or heard very little negativity from the parents towards the athletes, the coaches, the officials or other parents. The biggest blowup was from a parent that was pissed a boy went out too fast in the first lap of an 800m heat.

3. Track meet days are loooong I tell ya looong! The meet began on Thursday and ended today. My cousin's daughter was competing in three events so she had to be there each day. Thursday was the easy day. My cousin's family only had to spend two hours as she just had to run her heat. They spent two hours at the venue. Friday and Saturday she had a heat in the morning and a final in the afternoon/evening. They ended up spending about nine hours Friday and ten hours on Saturday at the venue because of rain and lightening. Finally today was a six hour day. I was told seven to eight hours at the venue was a regular meet for them. When you combine her daughter's times in her three heats and three finals, it barely added up to eleven minutes of running on the track. I will never complain about bracket day of a baseball tournament again. Salute to those parents.

4. This may be a sign I am getting old and soft but oh well. Why are seven and eight year olds running 1500m races? 800 meters is not long enough for that age group? I am sure my opinion is tainted by the fact that the heat index was at 102 degrees as I was watching them run while adults were having cold rags put on their necks by the medical tent. I also did not get one of those Disney movie scenes where someone ran alongside the kid in last place who finished more than thirty seconds behind the kid that finished in front of her or the boy who faced the same from and finished more than two minute behind the winner. Nope, they were out there struggling for that last 100-150 meters by their selves. Full credit to the kiddos that dominated both races in that age group though. Even at that age, watching a runner sprint away from the competition on the bell lap like they just joined the race is always impressive.