Distance Medley 2nd..... hurrah!

Hello everyone. Yesterday was a really cool day. I honestly did not think we would fair very well at the Hanover Relays. However, our sprint and distance medleys rocked. We were in 4th or 5th place when the baton was handed to me in the distance medley {200 dash, 400 dash, 800 dash, and mile (me)}. Hanover was easily gonna win the race but Washington and Lake Station had weak milers. Boone's Rusell Nix (cool guy, very nice) was 20 meter ahead of me so first I caught up with him so I could draft him (because I'm lazy like that). After I caught up with him I stuck behind him and we ran down Lake Station and Washington. At the last 250 I took off a little bit and then he took off even more. So then I let him pass me and then blew him away on the final 100. Matt ran a really nice 800, so if you see him tell him he rocks. Carolyn owned the sprints she ran last night; so you can tell her that she rocks too (because she does). Oh and "kudos" also go out to Meow, Kristin, and Sara.

As for the rest of my life I'm going to the movies and Fazoli's tonight with Matt, Meow, and Little K. I need to relax a little, so it should be fun. That's about it for now (because the announcements are being read). Later~ Rich

Morale boost status: successful

I had what was probably the best meet of the year today. It's not because of the times, the 25 points I scored, or even our totally killer 4x4. No, I realized today that it's time to get my ass in gear. Okay, my times have not been very bad thus far; however, they aren't the greatest either. I've worked in practice, but I'm not getting the same feeling I got two years ago. There are no workouts anymore where I feel total pain on the last set or two of intervals. It's my fault. That is what I realized today: I've let my mental edge slip quite a bit. Well it's time to put a stop to it. The next few workouts I'm gonna see what I can really do. I have to see what I can do. Sectionals feel like they are far away yet I know they aren't and I do not like to be disappointed. That's the one thing I love about running. There is no one else to blame but yourself for failure and that is what I find to be the single greatest motivating factor. I have to take off. Sorry about all the running crap in this post; I just have to vent about it sometimes. ~ Rich

meet tomorrow

Ever feel like reality does not feel as realistic as some dreams that you have? That's what the past two days have felt like. No folks, I'm not on drugs. However, I do think that this feeling may be caused by a lack of sleep. So I guess that I should be in bed right now; but I'm not. Bleh, I do need to get going though. Later~ Rich

apres-Prom..... or a lack thereof

Yo! Yo! Yo! (that was my attempt at a homey-g thug kinda greeting) Well it's been brought to my attention that I need to update (I'm looking at you right now Meow); so I will. Prom was an overall enjoyable experience. The roast beef was decent, the tea rocked, and the cake was the best I've had aside from WalMart's and Klein Braut Haus. I have no rhythm on the dance flo', but I managed. Overall, I'm glad that I went. We didn't end up doing anything after prom because Angie's mom wanted her to go to church in the morning: major bummer. So after I dropped her off I headed over to Rob's and shot the breeze with John before making my way back to Hebron. Guess I'm not the only one that's getting pissed off about a lack of straight-forwardness (for lack of a better term). Today was a blur. I basically just layed around, played Roxy for a bit, and dropped off my tux. While up in M-ville I also spontaneously picked up a copy of Eagles of Death Metal's Peace Love Death Metal. It's a very good CD and I recommend it to anyone who loves good rock (it's not really very death-metallish). That's all for now.~ Rich

Prom tomorrow

Hello. Today went by so nicely. First, I ran a nice little 4-miler @ 6:15. Stayed at school after that cuz there was a meeting about the grand march, left at 8:15 for a doctors appointment; I didn't get back until almost 1 o'clock because the wait was so long. Now I'm about to go get my tux. Dad got the car washed today so it's looking as awesome as ever. I wonder if she knows what kinda car I'm driving? I never actually told her what I was picking her up in, just that it was my dad's car and it was smaller than Big Blue. Meh, we'll see. Unfortunately, track practice is scheduled for 9 in the morning tomorrow, so I'm definately getting to bed nice and early tonight. 'Tis all for now folks. ~ Rich

Confidence and my stupidity

Today was a pretty good day I guess. School was a breeze. We had a home meet against River Forest after school. It was just kind of a weird day. On the bright side I won the mile and Matthew Sjoersdma, future running phenom, broke 12 in the 3200 with what appeared to be a very killer side stitch; nice job Matt, you now know that confidence is the key to success. The night, however, ended on a sour night because of my stupidity. Our 4x400 team probably had a good 10 second lead on River Forest's. I wanted to put up a decent time not only for the team, but my speed hasn't really been all there because of running the 2-mile immediately before. So I ended up not running what I wanted to run, individually and as a team. What do I do? Well, being the total loser that I am, I threw the baton down in frustration after crossing the line. Of course we were promptly disqualified shortly thereafter and I felt like a total ass. Thus, I would like to apologize to those of you on the 4x4 team that read this. Later~ Rich

nada

Today was pretty nice. Woke up at 8:30; had track @ 9. It was a killer workout: 3xmile, 800, 400, 2x200. Watched most of the baseball game after that. Had to get my haircut and then I headed back to watch the JV. When I got home I was pretty dead and I just fell asleep. When I got up I took a cruise with the top down with my dad. We shot over to Lowell and got some steak tacos at Mi Ranchita (that place kicks ass). That was about it.... Tomorrow's supposed to be nice weather wise, so I'm probably gonna go for a nice long run, and perhaps add some color to my pale Ethiopian-like frame. Later~ Rich

This week was screwed up.....

Hello everyone. Yes, I do realize that I have not updated since Monday; "tear, tear" as Meow would say. Anyway, alot has happened this week. Some good, a lot of bad. The good news is that my meets this week went very well. In 2 meets I was able to rack up another 27.5 points; I have already lettered in track. I won the 1600, 800, and 3200 against LaCrosse Tuesday; the times were pathetic so I'm not posting them. Last night we ran Knox and North Judson. I won the 1600 (4:55) and 3200 (10:59). The 3200 was my second fastest time ever and best of the year.

The week ended on a very tragic note. Thursday night 2 Hebron teens were killed and 2 others injured in a car accident. Though I am not very close to the two who died, I extend my sympathy and condolences to the grieving families and friends. It is always very tragic when people perish in such a way; there are no goodbyes and little closure. Moreover, they had their whole lives ahead of them and to see them snuffed out before they could live up to their full potential is inexplicably saddening. I myself have found it very hard to believe that they are truly gone. So I hope everyone will remember to keep the grieving families in their prayers. Thank you and good night. ~ Rich

Psalms 62:5-8

Blah blah blah... I'm not listening

I've said it once and I'll say it again: stupid people piss me off. I only had a few cookies and a banana for lunch (ok, so I'm stupid too), so by the time practice rolled around I was already dead. We have a meet tomorrow so we ended up doing 2x800, 2x400, and 2x200 followed by some windsprints. Anyway, we're doing the repeats and when I'm about to hit the finish, totally dead I may add, a person (who shall remain nameless) tells me to finish hard all the way through to the line. Excuse me? How many times have pushed yourself? Let me rephrase that. How many times have you ever even run? I'm the one doing the running, and all 8 cylinders are running on what little fumes are left of the banana and cookies.

As for the rest of my life, it's good. It's also picking up momentum very rapidly, so much so that I doubt I will have any free time next week. Monday: track meet. Tuesday: ASB. Wednesday: Track meet. Thursday: baseball game in Railcats stadium. Friday: pick up Tux. Sat. & Sun.: prom. Speaking of Prom it's looking pretty good, though I have no clue what the details are surrounding it quite yet. She's s'posed to call me sometime this week and about flowers and all that stuff. We'll see. That's all for now, I'm tired. ~Rich

First Meet

Hello everyone! Our track team kicked off its first meet at home with Hobart and Lowell. It was realy fun and I actually ended up running my fastest official mile time by clocking in @ 4:47. Unfortunately this was not good enough for first place. I was pretty sure I had the race and then the Hobart runner started kicking earlier than I expected; however, I did hold off both of the Lowell guys who had qualified for state in cross-country this past fall which was cool. Well I'm typing this in internet before we do anything, so I'm gonna have to stop now before I get yelled at. God forbid that I get on the internet in Internet class haha. Lataz~ Rich

Computer's down

Sorry folks, my computer has been down for like a week at home. So out of desperation, I'm typing this up in Aide. Alot is new. First, training is going well, but my ankle is a little sore. Secondly, I ran a 5k road race this past Saturday. I cruised in @ 17:45 without hitting lactic threshold, which was sweet. I would have been mad about the time, but I had gotten less than 5 hours of sleep the night before and probably partied a little bit much (so I'd say it was pretty good considering the conditions). Finally, on the coolest note, I got my date to prom last night; that being Angie... if those of you that read this will recall, she is the girl I went to the movies with a few weeks ago. Anyway, I gotta go. We have a "mock" track meet today. I don't see the point really; our first official meet is in 2 days. Guess the suspense was killing us. ~ Rich