the shuttle run ..

ok .. think back to elementary school .. i will give you a minute .. remember the president's physical fitness tests .. ugh .. i don't smile when i think of them .. not at all .. well .. ellie came home from school on monday all excited about them .. the shuttle run in particular .. it seems that they are going to practice at school for a bit before they take the test ..  she was quick to point out that she missed the all day swim/pizza party that they had at school last year for the kids that passed all the tests by just 1 second !!  

she does or i should say .. that will not happen this year .. no missing of the all day party at school .. so she told me that we need to practice at home to .. just like we practice our spelling words .. ok .. i say .. sure .. so i asked her .. well how far do you have to run to pick up the first block .. oh about that far mom .. ok .. this was going to require some professional advice of the highest level .. so i call julie .. she teaches middle school PE after all .. she will know .. and know she did .. 30 feet she said .. 30 feet ..that's a lot .. i had to use 2 tape measures to measure it out .. see those tiny blocks at the end .. 

those blocks .. well .. really they are erasers .. i don't have any wooden blocks .. cash probably does but i couldn't find them and he wasn't home yet so we just used erasers ..

ready ... set ... go ...

remember .. you have to run down .. pick up one block .. run back .. place it down .. not throw it .. run back pick up the other one and then run back and place it down to .. 

ellie did pretty good .. her first time out was 14.5 .. we got some very helpful hints from julie on how to improve our time .. by golly they worked .. when she was finished practicing she was down to 13.5 .. i thought ok .. this is pretty great .. i thought maybe she will just make the all day party at school this year .. i was feeling pretty good about it .. 

until ..

until she comes home from school today with the "sheet" .. this lists all the criteria that must be met to pass the presidents physical fitness and go to the all day pizza/swim party at school .. holy cow is all i can say .. i am pretty sure that i could not even meet them .. 

here they are just for kicks ..

shuttle run .. 11.8 seconds

sit ups .. 38 in 1 minute

sit and reach .. 33 cm

and my favorite .. the 1/2 mile run .. 3:58 minutes .. that is almost an 8 minute mile .. what 8 year old do you know can run an 8 minute mile .. i am training for a marathon and i am pretty sure that i can't even run an 8 minute mile .. 

she wants to go to the track at the high school and practice .. i will take her .. but i told her that i will work the stop watch .. if she can run 1/2 mile in 3:58 i won't be able to keep up .. 

 and that would be embarrassing ..