Permanent Dork Squad Member, Right Here

I didn't mention yesterday that this meet I'm judging is a "themed" invitational...meaning that everyone who attends (athletes, coaches, judges, parents, helpers) are requested to dress up to match the theme.

The theme was pajamas.

I read this on the meet announcement when I was pulling information together about where we were staying and going and the other judge carpooling with me even called to confirm it. We were the only two judges coming from out-of-state.

Ironically, the state we are in is a relatively "relaxed" state. I'm not saying we don't behave professionally, but in terms of uniform (which can be close to $400), they don't require it, and approach the whole coach/judge relationship with a slightly more "educational" and "benefit the athlete" approach as opposed to following the letter of the "no interaction" rule. The state we were visiting...is known for being more strict about these things, so I was told in no uncertain terms that my black pants would NOT work (must be navy blue).

I went out and bought new navy blue pants (still hate shopping, but being able to shop in a normal store and find something that fits a slight improvement).

Then I found out I was supposed to wear pajamas.

Since it was a two-day meet, I packed two sets of "judging clothes." Yesterday I wore my snowflake-print fleece pajama bottoms with a matching solid color fleece top and today I wore some normal capris and a T-shirt, but with a bathrobe and fuzzy slippers.

I must say, I've never been so comfy judging.

Did I mention that I put my hair into buns (Mickey Mouse style) on top of my head?

We (the other judge and I) were feeling a bit silly since we were the ONLY ones dressed up yesterday--we even opted for a Starbucks drive through so we wouldn't have to be "seen" in public as much. This morning--and she was in blue rocketship footie pajamas--we felt even more ridiculous pumping gas and the looks on the coffee drive through didn't help.

On top of feeling like total geeks, there were some hiccups with the meet planning, so we ended up being gone for nearly 48 hours, being at the meet for part of two days, and only actually judging (and getting paid) for about 9 hours. I'm hoping the meet made money, because with two nights of hotels for us, 350 miles of mileage, and per diem on top of our judging fees, we were pretty expensive.

The extra bummer was that we could have judged closer to home and made close to double at a more local meet.

So in trying to help out, the two of us gave up a weekend, gave up half a paycheck, and looked like goobers being the only ones in pajamas.

I think it upset (or annoyed) the other judge more than me. While I missed my family (and was bummed I couldn't do the race today), I did enjoy the alone time and getting to do whatever I wanted without having to worry about a three-year-old tagging along. It was especially nice in stores yesterday not having to remind anyone about the "one finger touch" rule.