Jogathon

The jogathon was back at school this year! Kitty was pretty excited about it  - mostly because there was a cool prize she wanted to win.  Each student received one ticket for every $25 raised and they had a bunch of prizes that would be raffled off.  

Kitty had her eye on a Star Wars fused bead kit.  She spent weeks telling me her strategy: she was going to put ALL of her tickets in for that one prize to increase her odds.  She calculated that this strategy gave her about a 70% chance of winning the item. I hoped she was right.

When I asked Kitty how many laps she planned to run this year she said, "I don't have a number in mind.  I'm just going to do my best."  Good enough for me.

In years past, we've been able to be down near the field cheering her on.  This year, they wouldn't allow parents on school grounds because of our friend Covid.  No one mentioned this fact to any of the parents and Kitty just happened to bring it up the night before the jogathon.  She was very upset that we wouldn't be able to watch her run.

Try and stop me.

I told her I would stand in the road and cheer if I had to.  I wasn't going to miss the jogathon.

We ended up standing on the sidewalk above the track with just a handful of other parents.  I thought it was very sad and unnecessary that we couldn't support our kids.  OUTSIDE.  Well, if you know me, you know I have a big mouth and a loud voice.  The parents around us were cheering for their kids and not one of them looked up because they couldn't hear the cheers.  When Kitty came running by, there was no mistaking my roar.  She heard me just fine.  And the other parents were impressed.  Or annoyed.  It's hard to say.

I screamed and cheered and my Kitty ran and ran.  12 laps that girl ran.  12!  That was more than 2 miles!

We gave Kitty $10.50 per lap and she quickly turned in the money in exchange for her tickets.  She put them all in the jar for the bead kit and then we waited.

The day of the raffle arrived and Kitty was certain she was going to win; she'd done all the calculations after all.  I just hoped she wouldn't be devastated when her ticket wasn't drawn.   

I drove up to the school that afternoon thinking about what I would say to console her.  What I really needed was words to convey my shock and delight.

Kitty won the raffle!  It was yet another successful jogathon.

That'll teach me to doubt her strategies.