Half Way!

Today is an "off day"!  That's a good thing!  It means we are "off" from skating today.  Outdoor Nationals (ODN) World Team Trials has a track and a road portion.  Track is a 200 meter concrete banked track and Road is a 500 meter laid out track, usually in a parking lot.  There are multiple races at each venue.  Each skater is given points for their placement in an event.  15pts for first, 12pts for second, 10pts for third etc. down to 8th place. The points then determine the USA World Team.  They build in a "rain day" or "off day" between the two parts.  Luckily, we haven't had any rainouts, however it would be nice to have some cooler weather.  It was brutally hot out there yesterday.  I think we only had a high of 93 however, we are in a concrete dish with no shade!!

The exciting news!! Jacob got his first ODN medal.  He finished with a bronze in the 10,000m point/elimination race.  There are 40 guys in his age division?  They put all 40 on the line and they have to duke it out for 50 laps, going approximately 25 mph on inline skates wearing nothing but a helmet and spandex.  It's a little like NASCAR with human bodies.  A point/elim race is starting at lap 5 they ring a bell, it's a point lap, they have one lap to race for the finish line, the person who crosses first gets 2 points, second gets 1 point.  The bell rings again and it's an elimination lap, they have one lap and the person who crosses last is eliminated.  This continues every other lap.  The final placements are based on how many points you can rack up during the race without being eliminated.  Oh, I did mention it's brutally hot out there, right!?!?  This race is considered to be the most difficult race because there is no resting.

I think one of the best parts of this win was the number of people who came over to congratulate Jacob, and his coach Deb.  They all went on about what a great kid he is and how deserving he was of this win.  As a mom, that was music to my ears, that other people think highly of my child.  One of the Master Women skaters has been reporting on the event.  She did a really nice write up on her blog of Jacob's race.  Here is the link: As I Was Saying... ODN Day 2

After this great finish, we had high hopes for Jacob's 15,000m elim race yesterday.  Sadly, he didn't do as well.  He skated a smart race but when it got down to 10 skaters the guy who was in 10th wedged him out on the corner.  The other skater got DQed but by then Jacob was eliminated.  So he finished 9th for that race which is one place out of points. 

So at the half way point, Jacob is 9th in points for World Team.  Jacob's teamates are doing well.  Lani made it to the final of the 1000m sprint giving her 2 points and placing her around 12th overall.  Nas placed 2nd in the 10,000m pt/elim and 5th in the 15,000m elim. I believe this places her in 6th overall for World Team.  The top six skaters make team with skaters number 7th & 8th as alternates. 

Tomorrow we start on road, chasing more points.

I'm living on the eighth day, right now!