Tales of Victory and Woe, Chapter Three

Championship Woe
Bummer at St. Olaf's [2007 NCAA Division III Men's Cross Country Championship]
The preview said:

"Colorado College's Julian Boggs is the top returning finisher from the 2006 Championships. Boggs, who was second to Occidental's Kevin Chaves in the West Regional last week, was third in last fall's final."

But Boggs got 13th, kind of disappointing. Still, Alex Nichols got 14th and they're both All-Americans and got these cool medals. CC was 21st of 32 teams. We're proud.
Women were 31st, but it's kind of a big deal that they went.

Party Victory
Sammi said I should go out instead of studying all night, literally, for the seventh day in a row -- for the sake of my sanity, even if I needed to study. And to get out the wiggles. So yesterday I slept all day, then went to the hockey game (I love hockey!), then I made midnight pancakes for myself and for random hall people that were willing to barter with foodstuffs (they were delicious. I got chocolate, bread, and chili) and then I met up with Molly and Chelsea and we went to the XC end-of-the-season party which was extremely enjoyable even though most there were utterly exhausted. We mostly danced around like crazy. Wonderful people. After they collapsed, we went to one of the fraternities' spandex party. Boy, that was a lot of spandex. Also, we saw a deer with huge antlers crossing the street. It looked like a little moose. Some people thought they were hallucinating. Molly and I outlasted everyone at the spandex party and everyone left and we were still dancing and then the fraternity people came in and gave us about a million high-fives after we convinced them that we were sustained purely by joie de vivre and our background in endurance athletics. And pancakes. Man, I make killer pancakes. Right now I'm regretting that I forgot my shiny silver pants for that party. Oh well. They were a little dirty. I did wear the see-through blouse to bowling this month. (Redneck theme)

Southwestern Invite

Only this team could make a 8.5 hour drive not horrifically boring. The drive back, at least. Traveling to a meet is more tense and quiet.
It was a funny course, completely flat with one tree, and quite windy so that you couldn't tell that it was hot. It encircled a veterans' home/ex-psychiatric hospital.
I must confess, I was pretty exhausted before the trip even started. So the gun goes off - bang - and I knew that it was going to hurt. Half a mile into, I look up and see fully 200 girls diverge into two separate groups, half going to the left, and half going to the right. But they let us keep running for at least a whole mile before they stopped us, and said they would restart the race in 45 minutes.
Long story short, I was really tired and I didn't do my best and even though I had a terrific kick at the end I came in one second slower than the girl I was supposed to beat. Sorry family, no Conference, no Regionals. Maybe next year. (And please don't ask me what my time was.)

The ride back was pretty fun. We watched The Karate Kid and I decided that I love The Karate Kid. Later I'll describe my coach's weird traditions that held us up and that we aren't allowed to question and that constitute a major source of hilarity on the team.
We got back in record time anyway. I dashed into my hall to shower, and caught most everyone going out. Sammi gave me a red dress, the short kind with no waist. That's called Regency something.
I made it out in 15 minutes and Jeff waited behind for me. We found everyone in the "salsa room" but that was dying so we messed around in the "swing room" in Palmer (my Poli Sci building) but the lady singer was kind of bad. I ended up Jeff, Justin, and Sammi in the main tent's dance floor. Actually, I kind of divided my time between them and the XC team. Our circles were right next to each other, and I was between them, so I managed to dance with both of them simply by turning around.
Since I'm more of a visual person, I've drawn a Venn diagram to illustrate how it worked.

With all of the alumni hilariously hyper around us, a good time was had by all.

TO THE ARC!

School news: Oh man, we had the awesomest, most intense discussion on religion in general today. We just weren't stopping! It went from 9:30 to 10:45 and Bob had to cut us off to take a break.

XC news: If I take out one girl in the next meet, I'm going to conference and possibly NCAA regionals.

Dorm news: We got a new guy down the hall but I don't know his name yet; Justin got in a massive bike accident and broke his arm (also, he looks like a burn victim); Sammi's mom is going to visit and Sammi is going to have a car. You know what that means.
TO THE ARC!


[from left: Chelsea, Molly, Me]
Today's sched:
3:30 pm XC Practice. Hard workout.
6:30 pm Dodgeball with Hammy's team.
7:30 pm Dinner at Bob's house plus some discussion on sexism in Islam.
8:30 pm Shower. Ha ha.
9:00 pm Total immersion in the library's periodical section with an expedition to the Middle Eastern studies section, until I pass out.
?:?? am Return to room, pack for Kansas meet.
?:?? am Pass out again.

no strength left. typing no good.

Today's workout:
3 800s
3 600s
1 400
3 hill sprints
2 stair runs

pain. tired. I smell bad.
Saturday, Fort Hays Invite. drive not so long like O.K. drive.
now go read book by psycho religious man.
then pass out.

Oklahoma

Back from Oklahoma. Ugh, long car trips. I went 23:00 in the invitational. No worries, my time should drop big every race. But no expectations.

Midterms went very well. So did my second paper, six pages this time. I know loads about religious mysticism, and the first couple of ruling dynasties after Muhammad's death, plus the Ottoman empire. (click map) Not so much the French occupation of Egypt. There the test got me bang to rights. But what the hey. I know the difference between Sunnis and Shi'is, aka Shiites, aka Shi'as.

Intimidating

Yesterday, XC picture day. I think I was the only one who didn't smile in the individual shot because I wanted to look intimidating. But I smiled in the group photo.
Workout: 4pm, 20 minutes barefoot on the grass with Sonja. She has the same knee problem as me. 8pm, 60 minutes aquajogging with Sonja and Colin.
Day before yesterday: 75 minutes on this awesome mountain road. Running! Saw no bears. Quads were not happy with me, but they're not hurting, they're just whining.

Did I mention the HP's printer would be nice to have? Writing a paper on Islam mysticism. But the Minox camera . . . no thanks.

Good News

I had a run yesterday! My first in two weeks, and my knees were fine so I went for 50 minutes. I have been taking meticulous care of them (I massage and ice every morning at the trainer's.) This is awesome because it means I'm in the home meet on the 22nd.

Dad emailed some pictures with captions:

Dad: Your closet had one gold shoe, why only one? Maybe you have it.

Kate: I lost that one at a meet last year, but it doesn't matter because I have a newer pair of the same model here. And I lost two Sauconys (I think) at SWCC but there was only one in the Lost&Found. One might string it up over the front desk and see if it stridulates for its partner.

Dad: Aaron on his first day of school.

Kate: Aaron on his last morning of freedom.

Aquajogging

Workout:
15 min warmup
0:45 at 85%, 0:45 rest
1:30 at 85%, 1:20 rest
2:00 at 85%, 1:45 rest
2:30 at 85%, 2:00 rest
2:00 at 85%, 1:45 rest
1:30 at 85%, 1:20 rest
0:45 at 85%, 0:45 rest
3 x 3:00 at 85%, 2:30 rest
4 x 0:30 at 90-95%, 0:25 rest
15 min cool down

After afternoon hours, the pool doesn't open until 8pm. It wasn't too soul-crushing, probably because the gang showed up for rec swim and I got to watch their diving board skills whilst flailing in Lane 5. (XC Colin, Brad, Andrew, Chelsea, and Molly)

Weight room

Workout today: 60 minute swim, and it felt great so I went hard. Strange. then weight room. Saw B/T Colin with the basketball team; saw Brad and XC Colin in their most outlandish running gear, riding the fan bike and and flexing in the mirror and grunting loudly with the free weights. I tried not to draw attention to myself because sometimes I would be lifting heavier weights for higher reps than the tall, muscley guy beside me. Although, that is how you get friends sometimes.

Snakes on the Plain!

Name update: Many complete strangers know who I am.
I stuffed the comforter into its new cover with my entire body, and Tim snapped a picture of me running up and down the hall like a giant oven mitt.

Run: 60 minutes at Garden of the Gods. We came across a rattling rattlesnake on the path and the girls in front screamed, and that cut the pack in half. Action! Adventure! Then we tiptoed around it and regrouped and laughed; the other seniors were teasing Jocelyn, "Don't pick it up, Joce! You can't pet it."
It felt great, I did better than any of the other freshmen, who all fell behind at some point. I was the only one to run consistently on my Priddy. Should have gone with the girls doing 70 minutes.


We ran by Camel Rock.

However, my knees are starting to hurt like they did sophomore year, and I have to go to the trainer's every morning at 8 this week, and go for an hour before practice. They're having me swim on Wednesday. I'm not surprised. I was (involuntarily) sedentary for 3 months before this season.

Meeting, Greeting, and Acclimating

It's official, I'm Rafter. Good choice, because there are bundles of Kates, Katies, Katherines, Kaitlins, Kathys . . . mostly Kates, really. People remember mine the first time, and they're all happy to comply, no small feat. However, I'm told I'm a memorable person even without the unusual moniker.
I met Sammi and her family yesterday. I really like Sammi, she's cool. She likes watching hockey, playing volleyball, equestrian, and classic literature. I also met my adopted family: Matt, Erica, and 2.5-year-old Jackson. Matt grew up in Southern California and went to high school at Catlin Gabel. They have two other adopted freshmen, but I forgot their names, even though I sat with one of the guys at tonight's epic accapella concert.

The room looks good. On Sammi's side there's Los Angeles Kings paraphernalia, tasteful bedsheets, and lots of books; on my side there's Monet prints and the banner of France (my RA said it looks like a Boy Scouts flag), a mess, and lots of books.
I enlisted the team's help for a little extra decorating. Dialogue:
Me: Here's $10 for you guys while you visit the awesome dinosaur museum while us freshmen have to go back to campus for orientation activities. I figure the least you guys can do is get me a dinosaur poster for my room.
Justin and the XC team: We're getting you a picture of a raptor, Raptor. Nope, you don't have a say in the matter.
Me: OK.

So do I go pick my things up from Bed, Bath, and Beyond ? I'm getting tired of fashioning random objects into pillows.

Running is going fine. Chelsea and Molly and I found the trail behind the neighborhood across the highway. Molly's home is at an even higher elevation so she is used to hills and heights, and the heat is getting to Chelsea, so I usually find myself spaced out between the two. I can now go for pretty much a whole (slow) hour. Thank you Steens!

Here's what I know about my Priddy trip: It's in New Mexico. Five-hour drive. We will interact with the horses a little bit. We won't have to shovel much manure. No showers, but one swimming pool. We will paint a lot. Wear old clothes. Bring mess kit. It's okay to go on runs, so I've made plans to go on a few with this guy Colin - Basketball/Tennis Colin, not the XC Colin I already know. Brad, who is on XC, is going on my Priddy trip. He is also in my "The Search for Islamic Order" FYE class. The professor is Robert (Bob) Lee, and he talked to the 2011 class today about academics. From what I hear, we're going to get our butts kicked, but I have the right attitude about learning here. Note to self: check mailbox.

I need to get to bed because we're running at 7am tomorrow morning. Last night we -- kids from Slocum Hall -- played volleyball past 11:30 (and then watched Planet Earth) and we played from 7:30 to 9 again today. My arms might be covered in bruises tomorrow; yet I expect to master pretty much all sports by the end of this year, including hockey, basketball, swimming, Frisbee, soccer, foosball, and pool.

Moving and camping

Yesterday we ran at Waldo Pond, my favorite trail so far, minus my awful running. I'm still feeling the altitude and it's frustrating, and on top of that all of us freshmen have what's called the Rastall [our dining hall] tummy rumbles. It probably doesn't help that on my first trip to Chipotle last night I ordered the spiciest salsa available. Impressive. Then some of the upperclassmen guys were asking if any girls knew how to skate. I raised my hand and now I'm drafted to the rec hockey squad. They need two girls and it seems like they are very serious about dominating. We had a birthday party after dinner for Kate the Sophomore, then us freshmen went back to the temporary dorms to play cutthroat billiards, as Colin calls it.

My phone got knocked off a table while we were playing pool and now it doesn't turn on. I am not impressed. It is advertised to be bombproof.

Now I'm moving my things to my regular dorm room in Slocum Hall. After noon we're all going camping, though sadly the freshmen only get to stay for one night. There's a few lame orientation activities that we can't get out of. I will be pleased to meet my adopted alumni family. They might end up adopting the underclassmen on the team, though.

Now everyone calls me Rafter. Most of the boys use Raptor when they feel like it. I'm guessing I don't have much say in the matter. It's better than Ham Sandwich or Hammy for short, which is what they call the sophomore Ryan.