Cross

I just got home from one of the most fun Cross Country meets of my life. Oberlin has a brand new course with new paths around some soybean fields to our northwest. Half of the course was on the athletic practice fields (which was really great for fans because it was just to the north of Philips gym and we run through the fields four times) and half was back on the brand new path, covered with woodchips and, today at least, little puddles all over the place. It rained all day yesterday and through the night, and only let up a little after four miles today. Sam said it depressed him because this is what Oberlin is like the whole month of November, apparently. I felt like a little kid running through all the tiny lakes periodically through the course and getting so wet that I didn't even look for the driest path through the grass. I started fading halfway through the race and Derek L. really helped me out: he motioned for me to follow him. It's so funny, you can choose to go a little faster at any point during a cross country race, but you don't always want to or see a reason to. But, since Derek gave me a little wave I decided to speed up and stayed with him for the next mile and a half, when otherwise I would be watching his back get farther and farther away. As it turned out, I ran the fastest 8k (approx. 5 mi.) course in 29:07, a big personal best, and really good for such a wet and sloppy course. Then again, Wet N' Sloppy was my nickname on my high school XC team. I figured it had to do more with my kissing style than anything else.
Out of eight teams,the boys got third and the women got first! Joanna J.'s such a badass, she won by about a quarter mile and beat plenty of the boys' times. Not mine though. Hell no. The team aspect is one great thing about doing a sport in college. The school, coaches, and administrators also take really good care of you. We got bottles of Gatorade and Clif bars (chocolate chip and peanut butter) as soon as we finished and I changed into my super-comfy new Asics, provided by the school. I feel like such a big shot. I took a hot shower when I got back to my dorm that felt really really good, washed the wet clothes that I didn't give to Larry, our personable equipment manager, and then laid down for about 45 minutes looking at the ceiling. Nothing makes me quite as tired as a cold, wet, sloppy cross country race. whew.