Camp Green Lane Blog Post July 26th

Today we ran and cried.

And that was hours before Color War even broke.

Not to bury the lead, but it’s Green Work vs. White Play!

But first, this morning was the annual Camp Green Lane Triathlon, a swim-bike-run event held throughout camp.

The younger campers complete a biathlon, with both older and younger campers finishing with a long run that takes them around the Circle and behind the tennis courts and Senior Boys Hill, and past the Canteen. The finish line is down by the lake, and the whole road down to Lakeside is lined with campers and counselors cheering on their friends and family.

The run isn’t easy, and little legs are put to the test as they round camp towards the finish line. Lap after lap, the cheers rise as each runner, big and small, gets closer and closer to completing the race. But the best part is the racing buddies; each competitor has a counselor and some friends run with them for support. Sometimes entire cabins will run behind their friend, pushing him or her to the finish.

It really is something to see these kids grind it out and give literally everything they have to get through the race. It’s even grueling for the support runners, who feel every burn the competitors feel.

But they do it together. They do it for each other.

And by the end, some are pushed to tears.

They ran and they cried and when it was over, they hugged and cried together. The Triathlon is one of the more beautiful events of the summer because of the sheer emotion our kids put into it.

A few hours and three Booms later, it was time to run and cry again.

Triathlon is the perfect warm-up for Color War, a seven-day, all-encompassing event that completely takes over camp. Every camper and counselor is on a team and they will all be called on, in some way, big or small, to do something this week to help their team.

Over the next seven days, they’ll compete on the courts and fields as fiercely as they have all summer. They’ll compete in creative events and artistic battles, they’ll burn ropes and eat pudding and watermelon. And it will all culminate in Sing Night (Thursday) and a week that will bring laughter and tears and incredible sportsmanship.

They ran and they cried today.

And we’re just getting warmed up.