having a field day... NOT

The elementary school's Field Day, as reported earlier as being scheduled for today, was a wash. A washOUT. The rain started last night around 7 PM and hung around and hung around and hung around, finally clearing out around noonish today.

Sack races would've been Soak Races. 40-yard dash would've been 40-yard Splash. Cross Country? Splosh Country. Tennis Ball Throw? Wettest Slog Throw. Anyway, yeah, enough of that.

Jerry asks: "is field day the same as the lubmer with lumber or what ever that day is?" Lubmer with lumber? That's okay, Jerry. I know what you mean and so do enjoy solving your spelling challenges.

Field Day and *ahem* Run With Lumber are two different things, two different seasons. Field Day is just a fun fall event. A day where the kids go out and partake of various athletic contests in a friendly, non hostile (yeah, right) environment.

Every kid gets a ribbon for each event, 1st place through 6th, although they're all pretty much onto the fact that a 6th place is a LAST place. The whole thing culminates with a lovely picnic lunch of school cafeteria corn dogs and stuff the lunch ladies want to clear out from the kitchen. Then the students go back to their classrooms and, I dunno, watch movies or something until the end of the school day.

Run With Lumber is our spring fundraiser! (emphasis mine). Yes, I chair this event for some reason I can't recall that must be similar to post-natal amnesia. The kids come out, one grade level at a time, and do as many laps around the field as they can in 25 minutes. Eight laps to a mile.

They get sponsors ahead of time to pay money per laps run, that kind of thing. Our inspiring mascot, Lumber* hangs around all day to offer much motivation while trying desperately not to pass out from heat and a poorly ventilated full-body synthetic fur costume. Whoever's still standing at the end of the 25 minutes gets a root beer float. How fun is that?!

And actually, it is a lot of fun - the day itself. There's a lot of behind the scenes work and paperwork and record keeping and money collection and root beer and ice cream mooching that goes on to pull it off, but all in all, I actually do enjoy chairing the thing. As most who visit here know, I enjoy running just for fun, and I enjoy kids, so maybe that's why I said yes when they came a-lookin' for a chair.

So Field Day is re-scheduled for next week, and I don't have to do a DARN thing other than show up at the sack race station. That's nice.

*name changed to protect the innocent

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