Eighteen year old Dominick Houghton-Ortiz ran for his Area 22 team.
TRAVERSE CITY -- Eighteen-year-old Dominick Houghton-Ortiz is snapped up and ready to run for his Area-22 team.
"It's pretty cold," he said. "I could still be sleeping."
But instead, he's testing his snow shoes for his first-ever winter race.
"It's fun to compete with others," Houghton-Ortiz said.
Due to the lack of snow, athletes competed on hay, which was fine with his coach.
"He's a little disappointed he's not running in the snow but maybe next year," Dan Tomlinson, Area-22 assistant director, said.
But for Dominick, the time is now. Although he suffers from ADHD and Tourette's Syndrome, he realizes he's not alone.
"Other people have disabilities," he said. "This is what they're born to do."
"He feels like he has a team, he loves to help other people and be part of a group and as long as he gets out there and does his best, that's what counts," Houghton-Ortiz 's mom, Rose Todd, said.
Easy for Mom to say. Her son won first place in his heat.
"I never ran that fast in my life," Houghton-Ortiz said. "I thought I was gonna have a heart attack!"
Let's be glad he didn't as he taught us all a valuable lesson.
"It doesn't matter about winning, as long as I had fun," he said.
Tune in to NBC 25 Thursday at 6 PM as Earl will have another report from the 2012 Winter Games.
