___My Saturday started much earlier than usual this weekend. I rolled out of bed at 7:45, then got in the car and headed towards my first actual 5k road race (often called a “fun run”…oxymoron?) with Kaarin and Sarah from Sprinting Spiders. Kaarin’s high school hosted the 5k, called Sprint for Clint, to raise money to cover the medical expenses of one of their cross country runners who was severely injured in a car accident. It was in a small town near Farmville, Virginia, about an hour and a half from campus. The roadside farmer’s markets all had signs posted saying “Please Pray for Clint” – it was very sweet. Our run consisted primarily of wooded trails behind the high school, almost all of which was made up of tall, steep hills in very close proximity. Sprinting Spiders ran a 5k last weekend on an entirely flat course. That’s the sort of run I’d been expecting! I made alright time…31 minutes for 3.1 miles haha. Needless to say, I will be running much harder next time! The run had a great turn out, with runners from all age groups. A ten year old boy definitely sprinted past me to the finish line.
___Sarah and I powered through our showers and booked it over to Dhall. After burning off all those calories, we simply had to replenish them as soon as possible! I was literally ravenous, or as Sarah said, “ravenous like a raven.” We went from Dhall to Regency Mall in order to check out the latest Forever 21 clearance sale items. The logical next step was obviously a stop off at Toys ‘R Us, where we spent more time and had more fun than we did at Dhall and Regency combined. Most of our time was spent squealing over the robotic stuffed animal toys that move in response to your touch, then hiding whenever we heard the footsteps of our fellow adult shoppers. One of us then conceived a genius plan for the remainder of our afternoon: making cookie dough to eat completely raw. Yumm. My friend Heather was home from UVA and she came along for the deliciousness, bringing some ingredients along in plastic baggies. The whole experience kinda made me wish I’d picked up an easy-bake oven at the toy store. Anyways, for a rainy, gross day that started far too early, I had a pretty fantastic time!___Next weekend I’ll be going to Virginia Tech for Halloween, making rounds as a member of the green monkeys team from Legends of the Hidden Temple. I’m slightly disappointed about missing Halloween desserts in Dhall, but it’ll be worth it to see my friend Rae and hang out at a big, state school on such a great night of the year!
Archive for October, 2009
____In terms of workload, this has quite possibly been the easiest week of my entire college career. My Spanish class, Peoples and Cultures of Latin America, was canceled because the professor is unable to return for the rest of the semester. We were given the option to chose between taking a half unit for the class and receiving a grade of “pass” or to take a full unit upon completion of a graded independent research project. For those who are unfamiliar with the unit system, one unit is equivalent to 3.5 semester hours and most classes are one unit. I chose the second option, and haven’t had to attend class all week…nor will I have to attend class at all…again. Because of fall break and a Chemistry conference out of town, my lab was canceled for the week, leaving me with yet another free block of time to fill as I saw fit.____After having nothing to do except work ahead (and let’s face it, that just doesn’t happen), I decided it was time to fill the week with a little adventure. My friend Sarah and I went out for one of our chik-fil-a picnics down by the James River, aka the Riv, and wasted an entire afternoon scampering across rocks, climbing trees, dangling from vines, and confusing all the dog walkers. The air smelled like crisp, fallen leaves and cool earth. I believe the word Sarah repeatedly used to describe it was “delightful.”
___The forecast predicted a sunny, 80 degree day. While it was sunny, it didn’t quite hit 80 degrees. By that I mean, it hovered at around 65. We certainly weren’t freezing, but needless to say both of us were glad that we hadn’t decided to attempt tanning and wear a bathing suit! The place we went, Pony Pasture, is about a five minute drive from campus. You could walk it, but I doubt you’d want to. And, just an FYI, there aren’t any ponies. When we first showed up, we were basically alone. By the time we’d snarfed down the last of our waffle fries, the place had started filling up with families being professionally photographed, couples acting romantic (which we watched awkwardly), and classes of students. I took the liberty of yelling “helloooo” and waving dramatically at one of the classes as we drove away, and Sarah immediately swore she would never allow me in her vehicle again. It reminded me how, on our 10-hour trek to her house, my friend Mallory kept getting mad at me for waving at truck drivers haha.____In other news, this week was advising week, and everyone is busy picking out classes for next semester. I’m hoping to take Organic Chemistry I, Comparative Animal Physiology, Genetics, and Literary Spain. Unfortunately, those are all offered on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings and the three science classes each come with one three-hour afternoon lab a-piece. Although I can do a bit of finagling, I have a hunch that my Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays are going to be jam-packed. At least I’ll have easy Tuesdays and Thursdays! Scheduling for me is October 30th, and after that I’ll need to concern myself with Study Abroad plans for next year. Exciting!!___I apologize again for the awkward lack of spacing. The domain I use to post with is not cooperating or saving my spaces between paragraphs!
_This Saturday marked the Sprinting Spider’s very first road race! Sprinting Spiders (aka running club) was first created last semester by two of my good friends, and its slowly becoming more and more legitimate. For those interested in joining, practice meets three times a week - Tuesdays and Thursdays at 5pm, Saturdays at 3pm. We begin with a warm-up and stretching session, then usually run between 3 and 4 miles per practice. Each practice features at least two different runs, so you can chose which to go on based on preferred distances or pace. Although the race took place on a particularly cold, wet and early morning, I’ve heard it went well and everyone made great time! Our next race is this coming weekend. It’s hosted by a teammate’s high school to cover the medical expenses of a former student who was involved in a car accident. I’m hoping it will be followed by a team lunch. Last time we had a team dinner, we went to Thai Diner Too in Carytown and it was delicious! Very worth looking into if you’re a Thai food fan.
_The reason I’ve only heard about just how well the road race went is that I spent my Saturday morning (slash entire weekend) with someone I can only refer to as my “bffl”! My friend Mallory, who transfered to University of Tennessee last year, came up to visit over her fall break and we spent it goofing off, watching ridiculous YouTube videos, and eating. My roommate is on the Crew team here and was away this weekend at a regatta. She left on Friday, and soon after her departure Mal and I decided to erect a fort on her bed while it wasn’t in use. One of my hall mates popped in to say hello while I was busy arranging a sheet to drape over it. I wondered at first if she had seen our creation, then I caught sight of her facial expression when she passed back by a few minutes later and realized that she definitely had! haha…oops. To add to our list of child-like activities, we also went to see “Where the Wild Things Are” on Saturday night. We were the first in the theater, so I of course took the opportunity to frolic down the aisles. Just as I sent myself soaring across the screen in a rather epic leap, an usher walked in, dropped his jaw, and immediately turned to leave. Again…oops. Mallory left early this morning, and I missed her as soon as she got in the car. In order to cheer myself up, I immediately made a trip to McDonald’s. Yumm. Emotional eating is my favorite bad habit 
malmal! <3_ I haven’t got much work for the week, and since it’s supposed to be sunny I’m hoping to get out and about a bit. My friend Meg and I have discovered a back road that leads up to a nearby park by our local Ukrops, so I may insist on a picnic/shopping trip combo sometime soon. I need to pick up some Halloween decorations for the dorm! Haha.Have a good week!
