PR in South Carolina & The Halloween Hustle

 

Superwoman and Batwoman, ready to run.

 

Coach brought down the Halloween Hustle tradition from when he coached at Roberts - all runners dress up in the most creative costumes they can think of and keep them on for a hard speed work out.  The funniest part was warming up by running through the middle of campus in costume. People were videotaping the eccentric herd of xc runners as we ran through the dorm courtyard, past the library, past the cafeteria, and down El Prado. I couldn't stop laughing.

 

Last weekend we rode for 6 hours to South Carolina, where we had our team dinner at an Italian restaurant. Hello carbo loading.

 

Team devotions :)

 

 

My shins were absolutely killing me, so I filled up my adidas gym bag with ice from the ice machine and hauled it on over to the bath tub. I decided against melting the ice with my own body heat and ran some warm water to raise the temperature to a cheery 39 degrees. It felt totally hardcore - like I was a pro or something. I freaked out when Rachael went in for her turn because Chels turned on the blow dryer in an attempt to warm up Rachael's shivering upper body - I was like "Electrocution! Have you not seen the warning labels?! Blow dryers and water are not friends!" So yeah, I save lives.

As the title of this blog indicates, I set a PR for this race, cutting my time down from 23:10 to 21:23. I listened to coach's advice and focused on nailing a solid 2 mile and hanging on for dear life during the last mile. During the race I told my mind to shut up about the pain and made my legs keep up with Katye's swishing ponytail. We eventually caught up with Beth and made an intimidating pack before I fell behind them at 2.5 miles. I know I can PR again if I stay with my girls the entire race.

 

Gorgeous course! We made friends with a team from Columbia International University during our cooldown (the girls in the bright yellow tanks). I love how running inspires such a sense of community. That and everyone is much friendlier with endorphins flowing through their bloodstream.

 

Escaping The Midterm Madness

 

That is ambrosia right there. Mind-hyping endorphins in a can for when your essay is due in four hours. The only downside is that it left me so jittery that I kept making spelling typos. Holla spell check. (No mom/dad/concerned relatives, I didn't drink both cans in one sitting.)

 

The really rad thing is that I only have one midterm this week. Uno. My Mass Communications prof moved our exam for next week (which is not even a midterm), so I only have to study for my Christ Culture and University midterm. Total win.

All of my poor freshman friends are doing crazy things like biology and  calculus, and I am just like "journalism major over here, woot woot!" I am already planning on taking the easiest science course available either next semester or my Sophomore year. Now that I am no longer in highschool, there is no way that I am ever taking a science and a math class at the same time again. Ever.

 So yah, everyone else is cramming until their brains fall out while I am like "9 pm bedtime baby!!!" Trust me, I enjoying it while it lasts - my serenity will probably come crashing down around December when finals roll in.

 

Sweet dreams - I am working on decorating my dorm wall with running related posters, inspirational quotes, and Bible verses. I think it would be totally cool to decorate an entire wall with Rave Run photos from my Runners World magazines (RW readers know what I'm talking about). Speaking of RW, I am seriously considering unsubscribing and switching to Running Times magazine. I have read RW for 3 years now, and it seems like they just keep recycling the same stories - not to mention the same cover models. RW was good when I began xc for the first time and ran my first half marathon - now that I am more competitive I think that RT has more to offer. Not to mention that RT is cheaper.....

Sooooo glad my mom convinced me to take the back massage chair thingy to college - it had just been stuffed into a corner back home but is now getting some serious use.

I am totally stoked to announce that I reached a 44 mile total for last week - that is the farthest that I have ever run in a week. My legs, not to mention my entire body, have never felt this powerful and strong before.