Notes
Wow this weekend was so much fun. My face still hurts from all the laughing and smiling I did. We left Friday morning for Kentucky in a van driven by Mr. and Mrs. Mollway. The van ride up wasn't too eventful, but we passed the time with some games and riddles. We also decided we're getting a dog for next year. A girl husky named Salem. I literally cannot put into words how excited I am for that. When we finally got there and ran the course, it looked very muddy and hilly. My legs also felt terrible during the run, which wasn't promising.
Went to dinner afterwards and ordered the jumbo ravioli. They only gave me 5, and they looked normal size to me. Ridiculous. I had a box of Cheez-its in my bag so I snacked on that throughout the evening so I wouldn't be starving for my race. My motel room consisted of Josh, Olan, and Khava. Absolutely stacked room. We quickly got situated and went to the team meeting in Muneeb's room. Ran through all the logistics and got to the rap battles. My GOD Justin's was great. My jaw was on the floor for at least half. Absolutely brutal. Listening to him eviscerate half of the team makes me want to do a rap next year. Muneeb handed out his notes. I still have mine from last year. I know you're reading this Muneeb, so genuinely, thank you. Know you're a busy guy, but to still take the time to write all of these out is incredible.
Once the meeting ended, we headed back to room 218, where we proceeded to shower and build the MegaBed. We pushed both beds together so we could have one giant, four man bed. We took some hilarious (and somewhat questionable) snapchats and got ready for bed. I like to sleep with it cold but apparently Khava likes it really hot. I had it set to 68, but he ended up setting it up to 74. We went to bed with basically no sheets because of the hot air pumping out and by 1 AM I saw him get up to change it back to 68. Since we had no sheets, 68 was freezing, and I couldn't fall asleep like that either. I had to wake up a couple times to pee because I had hydrated hard before bed. All said and done, I got a combined 3 hours of sleep. At 7:30 I took two double espresso shots and we left for the course. That was the most caffeine I have ever had, so I was wide awake very quickly.
It was very cold out at the course, I think 22 degrees when we got there. The water in the bottom of the port a potty was frozen when I went in there to hide from the elements to put my bib and chip on. The Jr/Sr/Grad race was the second of the day at 9 AM, so once I had the chip and bib set up, I went back to the tent and we left for the warm up. I knew it was going to be very cold during my race and I remember finishing last year at Michigan and literally not being able to feel my hands. I hate running in gloves because once the creases of my fingers start sweating, they get itchy against the gloves. That feeling is really annoying. I packed my Sp0oKy pumpkin socks for this purpose. Long enough to go to my elbows if I wanted, while also keeping my hands warm, being light, not bothersome, and a bold fashion statement to other competitors at the line. Jarod wore his broccoli socks in the same way which was pretty funny since we went out together.
My first mile was fast. I don't know the splits, but with the little downhill at the beginning and my caffeine buzz, I went out faster than normal. Eli was ahead of me by a little bit, and I was with Jarod, Matt, and Richard for the first mile and a half. Rod dropped back a little by mile 2, and I wasnt feeling great at that point either. My shoe had also come untied even though I had double knotted it. In a 5 mile race, its never a good sign when you're hurting at mile 2. I saw out of the corner of my eye someone moving up and I figured it was Rod, but it ended up being Cody. I wasn't sure if he was feeling really good or if I was feeling really bad, but I was determined to stay with him. Richard had already set his sights on Eli and the other guys in the front and left us. Matt had tucked right behind us and was maintaining contact while Cody and I were side by side.This next part of my write up is blatantly ripped from Cody's log because I think he describes my feelings here better than I could.
"We pass 4k around 13:30. It's also at this point when I realize how much Illinois was dominating this race. Eli and Coach were up near the front, and our pack of three was slowly picking off people one by one. That pack showed me how cross country is suppose to be run, a real team effort, and it was beautiful. We all fed off each other. There were points when each of us were struggling, but having two of your teammates there made it easier to keep pushing. We continued step-for-step for most of the second loop."
Some of the course was pretty muddy, and with my shoe getting looser as the race dragged on, I was struggling. I could also feel mucus running into my throat due to the cold, which I would have to clear every few minutes. In order to clear it, I had to close my mouth and cough/swallow/spit, and for like 2 seconds at a time I was basically holding my breath which would lead to really heavy panting afterwards. Just made me feel more tired. We hit 1K to go and Kellum was yelling at us to go and make it a race between the three of us. Beckerman went off right there. I was trying to hang on but couldn't. The finish was uphill and my legs were dead. I knew Cody and another guy were behind me so I just drove it home as hard as I could. I dry heaved into a trash can for a while afterwards. I ran 27:35 which was a 4 second PR and placed 11th. Our top 5 was Richard in 3rd, Eli in 6th, Matt in 10th, me in 11th, and Cody in 13th. We had 31 points, and second place had 73, so we did really well. I felt that we had raced as a team superbly and really owned the race despite going out too fast. Standing on that stage with those guys later in the day felt awesome.
Cooled down afterwards and watched/cheered on the other races. After awards, I returned the fabled jacket to IXC Secretary Cody Lund. He showed me how to take down the tent, which supposedly is an unofficial secretary responsibility, and then we headed out.
Our van made a stop at a playground where we fit basically the entire van onto a seesaw in a dangerous but fun maneuver and took some Lion King themes pictures. We also stopped at Chick-Fil-A where I got three sandwiches. I was starving since I had eaten only 2 Stroopwaffels (thank you Mrs. Kellum). For the rest of the drive back, Khava wouldn't let anyone sleep and we played "Guess that tune." This slowly devolved into just sing alongs. I'm going to really miss Khava next semester, because he was the whole personality of that van and honestly a lot of the trip for me. If he hadn't been with us, we would have all fallen asleep for a little bit and no one would have talked for the drive back. He was hilarious. Honestly this may have been my favorite car ride ever with this club.
This was a great race and a great weekend with a great team. Thank you and nice job to everyone who was a part of this weekend and to anyone who stuck it out through this long log.