Michael Auslen trying discus for the first time

Today I went to Girls’ Track practice (see original post for my pre-practice thoughts). It was interesting to say the least.

First, I met up with the rest of the team back in one of the hallways of the school and we did some warm up, by which I mean ran two laps, each consisting of running up and down stairs, through classroom hallways and, essentially giving ourselves a good tour of the building. I actually held my own (I am not very athletic for those who don’t know); I was second in line behind Ashley Pajor for most of the run, but I could have passed her if I knew where I was going. Then I got passed by more than half of the girls. Oh well, they do this almost every day and I do not.

Michael Auslen landing a successful triple jump at track practice. (Photo by Ashley Pajor)

Then, the girls split up into groups; we started with the throwers doing discus, which I was not horrible at. The coaches helping us there were amazing and I was nowhere near as good as them, but I did okay as far as I’m concerned.

After that, the line started to build up (they guys had come over by this time), so Ashley and I moved on. The jumping coach wasn’t there so she taught me how to triple jump. I think triple dump was the most fun I have had since we started “On the Field” last October. You jump, skip and land into a giant pit of sand. How awesome is that!

To finish off the day, we were supposed to go do hills with the sprinters (and enjoy the torture that was bound to be), but at this point they were done. So, we decided that the week after Spring Break I will do one more track day to do sprinting and to go to Arvada West High School with Ashley to pole vault.

Michael Auslen lands triple jump during his day at girls' track practice. (Photo by Ashley Pajor)

Please enjoy these pictures and videos and keep an eye out for part two in a week-and-a-half. The full (and undoubtedly humorous) story will be available on April 15 online and in print.

Video:

Below are videos of my experiences at track practice.

Editor’s note: We are still hammering out our video capabilities. Please bear with us as we fix any problems with the following videos. Thank you.

Michael Auslen throws discus at track practice.