Hurdles

We have enjoyed watching the Olympics this summer...possibly a little too much as Benjamin asks, "I watch the Impics?" off and on throughout the day. His favorite event  is "splash" (also known as diving), but he also enjoys "running" and "jumping" (gymnastics). While watching the Olympics I am baffled by the sprinters and hurdle sprinters. How is it even possible to be that fast, especially while jumping over stuff? Amazing.

On to the real story. Every time I see people jumping hurdles I'm reminded of my own experience in this event. Here's how it went down.

When I was but a wee middle school student, my older and cooler high school sister and her friend let me tag along with them to a movie. Nice, right? Of course before the movie we had to make a stop at the grocery store to pick up candy and soda for so that we could smuggle them into the theater. Don't judge me. It was cheaper and I was simply being thrifty. Well at some point during our grocery stop we were near the checkout lanes. The closed lanes were blocked off with a chain that hung about 3 feet above the ground, possibly less. My sister's friend ran and jumped over the chain. Hurdle cleared. My sister was then inspired to do the same. Again, hurdle cleared. Well I wasn't about to be the lame little tag-along sister. I had to prove to these girls that I was just as cool and fun as they were even though they were 3 years my senior. I ran. I jumped. I tripped and fell flat on my face. You can imagine the embarrassment that immediately followed. Truthfully, I'm not so sure that they even paid attention to what I was doing at all while we were together that night so they may not have seen me and my epic fail as a grocery store hurdle jumper. I'll have to ask. But that's how I knew my career as an Olympic hurdle jumper had ended before it began.