As a 6-year-old 1st grader, I hadn't yet been exposed to the world of competitive sports. I vaguely remember swinging a skinny yellow wiffle ball bat as my dad enjoyed throwing balls by me. I'm certain I swung and missed many, but I also know I figured out how to hit his curve as I can remember the shocked look on his face as I hit one that whizzed right by him. Good times. Something that was popular in elementary school was "Field Day". It may very well still be a thing, but my grade school days are way behind me. Our teacher or someone, entered us in various events including some type of foot race, a pull up contest and a long jump. There were other events as well but this day, one specific event is one I will always remember.
My teacher corralled me and lined me up along with I dunno, maybe 10-15 other kids and gave us all a spoon...and a potato. Soon instructions were explained, and we were ready to race. The idea of this race was to run about 20 or 30 yards to the finish line holding a potato in a spoon. As we took off from the starting line, I noticed I was out in front as several racers were dropping their potatoes. Not me, I figured out if I ran smooth trying to run on my toes, I didn't "bounce" as much and was able to keep my potato secure, all the way to the finish line. I won rather easily and soon a teacher grabbed me and pulled me over out of the way and handed me a blue 1st place ribbon...the most sought-after ribbon! I pranced around the rest of the day proudly showing off my accomplishment. Looking back, that may have been my first recollection of me competing, hence creating my competitive nature. Little did I know where that day would lead me.
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