Track clinic

We did a whirlwind less than 24 hours in Chicago this weekend.  It was exhausting.....too many hours in the car for all of us.  We ended up getting to the Chicago suburbs around 9:30 Friday after a full day of school, work and daycare.  We went straight to bed and woke up at 7am.  Had breakfast at the hotel and checked out.  Then drove to Lake Forest for GLASA's track clinic.  One of the things about racing chairs is pushes and strokes.....something to learn on top of making sure you are positioned correctly.  I know Maria needs some help with positioning, which I think we have figured out this weekend.  Most wheelchair track athletes actually are positioned with their legs directly beneath them...Maria can't do this due to one of her legs only being able to bend as far as 90 degrees.  So she has to sit in the chair.  She was able to try out a roller, which was neat for me to see......Ella liked it too, however she got in trouble for pushing Maria's wheel while Maria was in the chair, which made Maria and the chair drift off the roller.  Thankfully I was right there to catch Maria and the chair.....Ella learned not to touch the wheels during workouts.  

We ended up finding out that for Maria to really be in the correct position she needs an additional strap for her back too.....but this is something that would be beneficial for other racers too.  

After getting done at the track clinic we went to the Bulgarian grocery store in Des Plaines to pick up some goodies.  The girls were thrilled with the treats.  Maria was excited that they also had Martenitsas for Baba Marta Day too.  

After that we stopped by a friend's home quickly to drop something off and then we're on the road again.  We finally got home around 8pm.  It was a long trip, but worth it.  On a happy note Ella did much better on the longer car ride than I expected!