Last Collegiate XC Race

Hey I haven't been totally consistent with blogging now have I?

October is drawing to an end. That means it's time again to clear the calendar to make way for November.

Found a new hairstyle that I really like. I wear it to school all the time now.

Last week I asked my mom to cut my bangs for me but it ended up being a disaster. Now it's really short and awkward looking so I usually clip it up.

Random squirrels on the trash can.

My baptism certificate.

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Thursday afternoon we left for Madison, Connecticut for our cross country championships.

The trip took around 2 hours.

We were thrilled to find that our race course was in Hammonasset Beach State Park.

Beautiful beach scenery.

All of us were busy walking around the beach and picking up stuff.

Then it was time to get to business.

We had to figure out the course before actually running it the next day. Although the paths were clearly marked with spray paint and rope, we still managed to get lost and ended up having to walk the course twice just to get it right.

After that, we went to the nearby hotel to drop off our things.

This is by far the best/cleanest hotel we have ever stayed in! It's even nicer than the one in Disney, Orlando. What's great is that this time, we only have two people in one room. We usually have up to four people sharing two beds.

Our sparkling clean bathroom.

My roomie was ecstatic to find complimentary coffee- her favourite.

That evening, the team went to Chuck's Margarita Grill for dinner. The rule however, was that we were not allowed to eat any seafood.

All the graduating seniors.

I ordered two fish tacos but could only eat one. They looked small but I definitely underestimated their filling power.

The next morning of the championships dawned cloudy and cold.

Temperatures were around 8 Celsius and colder with the wind chill.

However once you started running, the cold air was really quite enjoyable.

I did much better than what I expected. For the 6km race, I was expecting to run around 25:50mins since my last 6km race this season was around 27mins. However I ended up running 24:40mins- an improvement of over two minutes!

I am happy with the result, but not satisfied at all. It is only a waypoint for me; I still have 6 months left to drop time!

After the race we all went to the beach to take a group picture.

Yippee!

At that point I was super high from running and so I went for a dip in the sea. Everybody looked at me like I was crazy because it was cold, but actually I was still feeling really hot from the race. I was quite disappointed that nobody was willing to jump in the water with me.

:(

After the race we drove about 3o minutes to Fairfield University for the MAAC Championship banquet.

Usually after MAACs for cross country and outdoor season, we have a banquet and award ceremony.

Albert made a funny face with his food.

Our table.

At the banquet, they basically gave out awards for the top runners, top coach, all-academic teams, etc.

The whole thing took about 2 hours.

On the way home, we had the misfortune of getting into really bad traffic. As a result, the ride home took almost 4 hours instead of 2.

Fast forward to Saturday morning (this morning), I drove back to Pennsylvania with my laundry and homework to be done.

I actually have a lot of thoughts to pen but I don't have the patience for it right now.

My head is just filled with thoughts of running running running... So I'm more occupied with watching running videos right now than blogging...

But I will blog more soon!

Bye!