My Sister Vera (Part 7 of 9)

But the track team was where I feel Vera really made her mark. She didn’t feel like the work-outs she was getting in track practice were enough, so she asked me to develop a work-out schedule for her. I thought of everything I wanted to do, but didn’t have the will-power to follow. I had her doing wind sprints of various distances and running extra miles in the morning. But the amazing part was Vera actually did it! She got up early in the morning and ran. She practiced twice as hard as anyone else at after-school track practice. And she did the extra wind sprints that I had devised. What was more, she also avoided any sweets or desserts. The rest of us in the family would be enjoying a dish of tapioca pudding or Danish Dessert with Cream, while Vera just didn’t have any. We all knew that Vera was “in training.”
That training began to pay off as Vera easily won the half mile, or 880, in track meets with other schools. But the real challenge was when she ran against a lot of other schools at the division meet. This was held at Cottonwood High School that year and I was selected as one of the timers. The 880 was near the end of the track meet, it being the longest event for girls. Vera got set, but there was a whole pack of eighth grade girls doing the same thing. This wasn’t going to be easy. The man starting the race said, “Take you mark, set,” and then he fired a gun, and the race began. But by the half-way point of the first lap, Vera was in last place.
“Hey, Bill,” my friends chided, “I thought you said your sister was good?”
“Come on Vera,” I yelled. I knew she could still pull it out.
Vera was running her own race, not one dictated by the crowd of girls fighting for first place way up ahead. One by one, Vera gradually passed each one until she was in the lead herself. And then she started her kick! She blew them away! As Vera finished the race, she just ran through the tape. She didn’t know to lean into the tape or throw out her arms in victory. Everyone cheered for her.
The next week was the Granite School District Track and Field Championships. Again it was held at Cottonwood. This time Vera absolutely shattered the district record in the eight hundred and eighty yard run. I’ll bet the record she set that day is still standing to this day.