Dog Escapes onto Track, Chases Down Leader at Finish Line
Tis the season for track and field.
A number of area high school athletes will be competing at regional track and field meets trying to punch their ticket to the UIL State Track & Field Meet in Austin. A quick aside of a big good luck to the athletes from Hudson High School who will be in League City in the Class 4A Regionals there on Friday and Saturday, my daughter among them.
One of my favorites things to watch at track and field meets is when someone comes from far behind to win the race. There's just something about watching someone coming around the final turn using talent and determination to close a gap that looked like it was going to be insurmountable. It's fun for fans to watch, it's a great sense of accomplishment for the person that did the catching up, and, of course, it's heartbreak for the athlete that lost the lead. But, hey, that's the nature of sports.
I have watched a number of these scenarios play out, both in person and watching YouTube videos, but a few days ago I watched a relay race in which the ground made up by the eventual winner was miraculous. Well, if the come-from-behind athlete had been a human, if would have been miraculous. In this case, it was a dog on a leash that somehow escaped his caretaker and made up over 50 meters of space on the anchor leg of a 4X200 meter relay.
After watching the race, several questions came to mind. Did the dog know the person leading the race? That was the only runner chased by the canine. How far under a rock did the person who lost control of the dog want to crawl under? What happens to the race if the dog had actually tripped the leader and changed the outcome?
Anyway, all's well that ends well. Something tells me, however, that in the future, the officials at this meet in Utah might enact some rules about bringing pets to meets.