(no subject)
what a crazy weekend. we went to suny geneseo for the ncaa regional meet. on the girls side, 4 teams and 7 individuals not on those teams go to nationals next saturday, and for the boys, 3 teams and 5 people go. going into the weekend, we were ranked fifth and the boys were ranked fourth. needless to say the pressure was on.
we left on friday from newark. we're taking this small ass plane that i don't even think should be allowed in the air and i end up sitting next to rob zand. great. fortunately, he likes me now that i'm with brian so we actually had some pleasant conversation.. until- we go to take off, and the plane starts speeding up down the runway as if it was going to take off, and then suddenly slows down randomly. we all look at each other and we're like, that's new. so we taxi around for a bit and the pilot tells us that some sort of weather sensor thing was down and he was going to call maintenance and blah blah blah and all we kept thinking was there's no way that i want to take off in this plane. after an hour, he assured us that it was ok and decided to take off.
the flight was turbulence central. usually when you're on planes you can barely tell the plane is moving, but on this flight, i actually felt like we were going 600 mph or however fast we were going. it was scary as all hell, and i'm someone who likes flying. so we're all bumping around, clinging to our seats for dear life when the plane starts to decend through the clouds. we start to see land.. and it's all white. it was snowing like a freaking blizzard. great. so we're going lower and lower and i'm thinking how are we supposed to land in this? but somehow the pilot manages and we land in one piece.
so the next issue becomes the snow: we have the biggest race of our lives the next day and there's about 6 inches of snow on the ground. we just start laughing at the ridiculousness of it all, especially the fact that it was about 30 degrees and we had to run around in our little uniforms the next day. so, we headed for the course so we could walk it. by the time we got there, it was geting dark, so we just decided to walk the part that we couldn't see from the road. so here we are, trudging through the snow, all seven of us dressed up and freezing cold. we find that the course runs along a giant canyon that has this flimsy fence separating us from it and it was going to be really windy. great. again.
with that all done, we drove back to the hotel and had a really great meal and watched bruce almighty in our rooms. we had team meeting with coach, he gave us the 3 number and 2 shoe computer chips we had to wear for the race and then we went to sleep.
the next day was the race. it was a little warmer than we had expected (40 instead of 30), so all of the snow that was on the ground had melted. so while the course was no longer covered in snow, it was now covered in mud. we warm up and see this little gator/tractor thing that is going to be leading the race. like it drives around in front of the leader so that the leader knows which way to go. funniest little tart cart ever. we go to the line and strip down and are freezing our asses off and then the race starts. within the first 100 meters i was covered in mud. i ran the whole race sliding around and struggling not to fall flat on my face. i don't even think i got good footing at all until the 2 mile mark at which point i started passing people like crazy and pissed some little girl off so she spiked me in the shin. thanks. so we finish and the times are pretty crappy but that was to be expected since the course was so muddy. we went back to the van and took pictures of all of us covered in mud and then went to see the results. we got 5th as a team: a little disappointing, but ok because none of the teams that were behind us beat us, and we were pretty far out of fourth place. but, shannon and maureen both placed well enough to be part of the 7 individuals that go. so that kicked ass.
so we're standing around waiting for the boys to run, and we see them all huddled around one of their two vans. i go over to see what's going on and it turned out that nick locked his keys in the van, and half of the boys stuff was in there, more specifically, the better half. so this cop shows up and everyone's trying to get the van unlocked until finally it was cutting it way too close so johnny mums took the handle of the car-unlocking thing and smashed the passenger window. it was awesome.
so the boys get their stuff and go to the line. we were all standing a little further down from the start, by where the little gator was. so the gun goes off, and they start the gator.. except it wouldn't start. 200 angry sprinting boys are charging the gator and the kid driving it looked scared shitless. finally as the leaders caught him it started up, kicked mud everywhere, and sped off.
the boys ran amazingly. they all PR-ed somehow, which was weird b/c our times were all at least 20 seconds off. they ended up coming in 3rd, so they're headed to indiana next weekend with maureen and shannon.
so we're driving back to the airport, and coach sees a hiding cop and slows down. as we pass that cop, we see another one in the distance that had pulled someone over. i said that i thought it would be hilarious if it was the van with the broken window. we drive by, and it was the other van! so we pull over, see the boys cracking up, and coach gets out of our van. the cop yelled at him though so he came right back and we kept driving.
when the boys returned the vans, they had some explaining to do.. they had one that was missing the passenger window, and another that had just gotten a ticket for speeding. too funny.
we made it back in one piece, and all of us girls made a huge salad and made smores on the stove. we met up with the boys and a good time was had by all.
now i'm all done with cross country, forever, and headed to amsterdam on thursday.
i'm out.
we left on friday from newark. we're taking this small ass plane that i don't even think should be allowed in the air and i end up sitting next to rob zand. great. fortunately, he likes me now that i'm with brian so we actually had some pleasant conversation.. until- we go to take off, and the plane starts speeding up down the runway as if it was going to take off, and then suddenly slows down randomly. we all look at each other and we're like, that's new. so we taxi around for a bit and the pilot tells us that some sort of weather sensor thing was down and he was going to call maintenance and blah blah blah and all we kept thinking was there's no way that i want to take off in this plane. after an hour, he assured us that it was ok and decided to take off.
the flight was turbulence central. usually when you're on planes you can barely tell the plane is moving, but on this flight, i actually felt like we were going 600 mph or however fast we were going. it was scary as all hell, and i'm someone who likes flying. so we're all bumping around, clinging to our seats for dear life when the plane starts to decend through the clouds. we start to see land.. and it's all white. it was snowing like a freaking blizzard. great. so we're going lower and lower and i'm thinking how are we supposed to land in this? but somehow the pilot manages and we land in one piece.
so the next issue becomes the snow: we have the biggest race of our lives the next day and there's about 6 inches of snow on the ground. we just start laughing at the ridiculousness of it all, especially the fact that it was about 30 degrees and we had to run around in our little uniforms the next day. so, we headed for the course so we could walk it. by the time we got there, it was geting dark, so we just decided to walk the part that we couldn't see from the road. so here we are, trudging through the snow, all seven of us dressed up and freezing cold. we find that the course runs along a giant canyon that has this flimsy fence separating us from it and it was going to be really windy. great. again.
with that all done, we drove back to the hotel and had a really great meal and watched bruce almighty in our rooms. we had team meeting with coach, he gave us the 3 number and 2 shoe computer chips we had to wear for the race and then we went to sleep.
the next day was the race. it was a little warmer than we had expected (40 instead of 30), so all of the snow that was on the ground had melted. so while the course was no longer covered in snow, it was now covered in mud. we warm up and see this little gator/tractor thing that is going to be leading the race. like it drives around in front of the leader so that the leader knows which way to go. funniest little tart cart ever. we go to the line and strip down and are freezing our asses off and then the race starts. within the first 100 meters i was covered in mud. i ran the whole race sliding around and struggling not to fall flat on my face. i don't even think i got good footing at all until the 2 mile mark at which point i started passing people like crazy and pissed some little girl off so she spiked me in the shin. thanks. so we finish and the times are pretty crappy but that was to be expected since the course was so muddy. we went back to the van and took pictures of all of us covered in mud and then went to see the results. we got 5th as a team: a little disappointing, but ok because none of the teams that were behind us beat us, and we were pretty far out of fourth place. but, shannon and maureen both placed well enough to be part of the 7 individuals that go. so that kicked ass.
so we're standing around waiting for the boys to run, and we see them all huddled around one of their two vans. i go over to see what's going on and it turned out that nick locked his keys in the van, and half of the boys stuff was in there, more specifically, the better half. so this cop shows up and everyone's trying to get the van unlocked until finally it was cutting it way too close so johnny mums took the handle of the car-unlocking thing and smashed the passenger window. it was awesome.
so the boys get their stuff and go to the line. we were all standing a little further down from the start, by where the little gator was. so the gun goes off, and they start the gator.. except it wouldn't start. 200 angry sprinting boys are charging the gator and the kid driving it looked scared shitless. finally as the leaders caught him it started up, kicked mud everywhere, and sped off.
the boys ran amazingly. they all PR-ed somehow, which was weird b/c our times were all at least 20 seconds off. they ended up coming in 3rd, so they're headed to indiana next weekend with maureen and shannon.
so we're driving back to the airport, and coach sees a hiding cop and slows down. as we pass that cop, we see another one in the distance that had pulled someone over. i said that i thought it would be hilarious if it was the van with the broken window. we drive by, and it was the other van! so we pull over, see the boys cracking up, and coach gets out of our van. the cop yelled at him though so he came right back and we kept driving.
when the boys returned the vans, they had some explaining to do.. they had one that was missing the passenger window, and another that had just gotten a ticket for speeding. too funny.
we made it back in one piece, and all of us girls made a huge salad and made smores on the stove. we met up with the boys and a good time was had by all.
now i'm all done with cross country, forever, and headed to amsterdam on thursday.
i'm out.