On the metro at the crack of dawn, eager to get to Olympic Stadium early! the sun is shining, but for the first time there are clouds in the sky and a cool breeze, making it a perfect day for running!
We arrive and meet another runners family-Christine from NJ, Cape May area, really nice and friendly. Then we see Molly! She looks super happy and ready to run! She is a site for sore eyes! We have really missed her. The 3000 is the first race of the day and I will include Jer's play by play below.
Molly took the track at just after 10 am. After the long week apart, our family's hearts lifted just SEEING her as she ambled onto the track, happy, smiling (just like she looked on the big screen in the opening ceremonies). The gun went off, and the lead runners went out hard. Molly sprinted about the first eighty meters, then settled into a quick pace. She finished lap 1 in 1:41--really fast for her, if she was going to keep it up for a long race. Two runners went clearly ahead, Molly settled with the rest, knocking down one 2-minute lap after another. Again, pretty quick for her, but with two laps left, spots 3rd thru 5th were anybody's to take.
Then, disaster...in twelve years of running, Molly has fallen a million times in practice, never in a race. Until today. She was working the track with the other runners--back and forth, they were really racing. Going around the first turn, Molly's feet got tangled with another runner. She tried to recover--she was on the inside, and on a regular track, she might have held it together. But this track has a small, almost imperceptible ledge on the inside. Molly bumped from the outside, got shifted to the inside, hit the ledge....and went down like a ton of bricks...full bore, flat out SPLAT!! She went down very hard. She laid there for a moment (that seemed like an hour). A volunteer was running toward her. I thought she might be done. A year of training, all of our family's and our team's hopes, there they were, laying on the track.
Then?
Well, then, all I can say is, Molly was Molly ;)
Unaided, she pulled herself up, and started up again on the track...limping badly, walking at first, then pushing into a tentative jog. When she came around to the turn we were at, we saw the bright crimson splotches of blood on her knees (a sight we've seen so many times in her years of hard work). The entire section where we were sitting saw what had happened, and heard Charlotte and Danny calling out encouragement to their sister. The crowd picked up on it, and started chanting 'Molly! Molly!'. She went into her bell lap limping on her right side, but steadily picked up speed, and even put her head down and sprinted the last 120 meters.
Kerry met her at the finish line. Molly was most upset because she thought she had let us down--how could she?? This race was, in a way, a snapshot of Molly's life--high hopes to start, adversity knocks her down, but the kid has a motor and a drive that just won't quit. When she's knocked down, she just gets up, smiles, and keeps on pushin'.
She finished the 3000 in a respectable 17:12. Kerry told the medical staff that the Hinckas thought it important that they be tested early, so Molly came out of the first race a bloody mess, to give them some instant action.
We saw Molly after, and got a chance to tell her just how proud we were. She is banged up, but nothing is so hurt that she won't continue in the rest of her races. She hugged Danny the longest, which we knew she would, but she didn't cling to us. After hugs and kisses, she turned toward the track, where one of her teammates was running, and screamed her lungs out for him to finish strong. She told us she was going back to her team, to support them.
Press on.
Do your best.
When they knock you down, get up, and fight through it.
That's Molly
That's Special Olympics.
He is a great writer!
Later in the evening we have mezedes( little snacks) at a cafe at the foot of the hill to the Acropolis, then head up to the theatre to go to the Gustav Mahler concert with violinist Joshua Bell. It is without a doubt the most stunning venue I have ever been in!
Molly took the track at just after 10 am. After the long week apart, our family's hearts lifted just SEEING her as she ambled onto the track, happy, smiling (just like she looked on the big screen in the opening ceremonies). The gun went off, and the lead runners went out hard. Molly sprinted about the first eighty meters, then settled into a quick pace. She finished lap 1 in 1:41--really fast for her, if she was going to keep it up for a long race. Two runners went clearly ahead, Molly settled with the rest, knocking down one 2-minute lap after another. Again, pretty quick for her, but with two laps left, spots 3rd thru 5th were anybody's to take.
Then, disaster...in twelve years of running, Molly has fallen a million times in practice, never in a race. Until today. She was working the track with the other runners--back and forth, they were really racing. Going around the first turn, Molly's feet got tangled with another runner. She tried to recover--she was on the inside, and on a regular track, she might have held it together. But this track has a small, almost imperceptible ledge on the inside. Molly bumped from the outside, got shifted to the inside, hit the ledge....and went down like a ton of bricks...full bore, flat out SPLAT!! She went down very hard. She laid there for a moment (that seemed like an hour). A volunteer was running toward her. I thought she might be done. A year of training, all of our family's and our team's hopes, there they were, laying on the track.
Then?
Well, then, all I can say is, Molly was Molly ;)
Unaided, she pulled herself up, and started up again on the track...limping badly, walking at first, then pushing into a tentative jog. When she came around to the turn we were at, we saw the bright crimson splotches of blood on her knees (a sight we've seen so many times in her years of hard work). The entire section where we were sitting saw what had happened, and heard Charlotte and Danny calling out encouragement to their sister. The crowd picked up on it, and started chanting 'Molly! Molly!'. She went into her bell lap limping on her right side, but steadily picked up speed, and even put her head down and sprinted the last 120 meters.
Kerry met her at the finish line. Molly was most upset because she thought she had let us down--how could she?? This race was, in a way, a snapshot of Molly's life--high hopes to start, adversity knocks her down, but the kid has a motor and a drive that just won't quit. When she's knocked down, she just gets up, smiles, and keeps on pushin'.
She finished the 3000 in a respectable 17:12. Kerry told the medical staff that the Hinckas thought it important that they be tested early, so Molly came out of the first race a bloody mess, to give them some instant action.
We saw Molly after, and got a chance to tell her just how proud we were. She is banged up, but nothing is so hurt that she won't continue in the rest of her races. She hugged Danny the longest, which we knew she would, but she didn't cling to us. After hugs and kisses, she turned toward the track, where one of her teammates was running, and screamed her lungs out for him to finish strong. She told us she was going back to her team, to support them.
Press on.
Do your best.
When they knock you down, get up, and fight through it.
That's Molly
That's Special Olympics.
He is a great writer!
Later in the evening we have mezedes( little snacks) at a cafe at the foot of the hill to the Acropolis, then head up to the theatre to go to the Gustav Mahler concert with violinist Joshua Bell. It is without a doubt the most stunning venue I have ever been in!
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Herotous Atticus Theatre |
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