Playing Catch Up

Oh man, I haven't posted for nearly six months.. I feel like a bad blogger, meh :/ Now that my self-pity is over, I'll give a brief catch up on everything.

Here I am at XC New Englands(in black) with Tory Schuler, Sarah Mattison, Christa Fagone, Claire Stuart, Laura Picard, Erin Miseracordia, Joelle Ross (508) and Caitlin Schaffer (510) of Simsbury HS in CT, as well as Juliette Luchini of Mt. Blue. I've known several of these girls for a few years, and met others this past summer at Green Mountain Running Camp in VT. Caitlin and I will be friendly competitors this fall as she will be attending Bowdoin :D

 I've been doing a lot of cross training this past track season, which involves a strength training program called "lifting Louisa"... eh actually I just get a kick out of this picture and needed an athletic excuse to post it on my running blog :P

In April, I went on a cultural exchange to Costa Rica with a handful of other kids in my AP Spanish class and needless to say it was interesting to run there. I also had the experience to eat a termite crawling on my hand, a huuuge fish eyeball and cow tongue. Here's a picture of some of us from the trip, including my fantastic CR running partner, Steven (the blonde one).

My final excuse for posting prom pictures on a running blog is to celebrate what the running community has to offer- lifelong friendships between people from different teams :D Take my and Jay Lesser's (Falmouth XC Running/Nordic Skiing) example and try dating one of em! The nice thing is that in a relationship where both people run, no one needs to feel self conscious about watch tans and consuming snacks that contain 5000 calories on a daily basis :P

Alright, I swear I'm done with the prom pics. This season has been a good one, and once again Mt. Blue was blessed with the top-of-the-line "Road and Parking Lot" training facility, which offers a beautiful tar (yes that's not an autocorrected word for "turf") infield, as well as randomly dispersed gravel and parked cars to really keep you on your toes. Throughout the season, I dabbled in the 2 mile and went from a 12:48 to a 12:18, and I'd definitely like to see it well under 12 in the near future. In the mile I finally (and just barely) broke 5:30 with a 5:29.80 this past weekend at KVAC's at Morse. After the meet (in which it was 80+ degrees and extremely muggy), my asst. coach for next year introduced me to several athletes from other teams that will be teammates of mine at Bates next year. Then Jasmine Boyle (Brunswick), Maryam Norton (Injured-Mt. Blue), Molly Schassberger (Winslow), Mohammed Barre (Lewiston) and I made our way to the podium where we Bernie-d, Dougie-d and Call-Me-Maybe'd our hearts out, until an unfortunate event happened in which an anonymous kill-joy from EL decided it was time for the dance party to end, see pictures below :P  

Proof: The fun about to be killed

Jasmine and Moi, Movin' Like Bernie

Poop inside the loop :P

Phew, it feels good to be caught up :)
KKNW, Addie

A Note..

Dear running community (nay- family),
I miss you.
KKNW,
Addie

Spandits!™

Greetings greater running community of Maine (and beyond?)! I am posting to enlighten you all on a fantastic idea for a holiday gift this year to anyone athletic on your list. Spandits!™ makes custom-made tights and other athletic apparel, made in Maine. Here's the link, check them out!
http://www.spandits.com/

Below are some pics of the products that me and my sibs have!


I'm wearing "Sea Breeze" while my brother sports the "Jungle Frog"


My little sister, Kahryn

Upcoming runner!

The Bobcat Chronicles?

It doesn't exactly have the same alliterative charm as "The Cougar Chronicles," but I'm guessing that this blog is something that I'll have to leave behind while packing for college next year anyways. Oh, yes! If the title doesn't give it away, I heard back from my ED school, and shall be attending Bates College come fall! When I found out, I went down to the kitchen and began frolicking around my mother, who was baking Christmas cookies. Honestly, I have a lot of maturing to do before college :P Anywho, I finally (rather casually) dropped the news while I was basting some pork for dinner later on that night. "You know, Mom, it sure is a relief knowing that I'm going to be eating just as well as this next year at Bates." She was like "What!!" One of the things I'm especially looking forward to is being able to practice on a track (recall this past track season, where the MB team would warm up in their "Road and Parking Lot" team shirts..yes, there was a reason behind them). Also, as any of my close peers can attest, I am an absolute chai fanatic, and Bates makes some of the most amazing stuff I've ever tasted. Deal breaker right there ;)



Yes, of course I'm fully aware how sickening and obsessive this is :D

KKNW,
Addie

No Excuses (USATF Nationals, Myrtle Beach, SC).

I'll start this post off by saying that I believe this was the first time in the eight different years that I've travelled via plane in the wintertime where none of my flights got delayed or cancelled. Which was a good thing, because by the time my crew reached charming Myrtle Beach Airport, the sun was setting and the opening ceremony would be starting in less than an hour. The course was on Whispering Pines Golf Course, and, admittedly, I was slightly anxious to see what it'd be like, because I had never raced on one before. It proved to be grass the whole way (obviously), and the only "hills" resembled frost heaves on the roads in winter. Perfect. To top it off, there wasn't any mud on the course, which was a real treat considering the cross country season Maine experienced this past fall. The morning of the race, we got up early to walk the course. I was feeling pretty pumped by the time I slipped my Maine singlet on over my head, mostly because wearing that thing makes me feel so damn proud of where I come from.

I went on an easy mile and a half warm up with Maryam a little bit before her race, and was curious as to what her race strategy was. "The thing I think about the most while racing," she began, "is formulating all kinds of excuses in my head, so that if I finish and am not particularly pleased with my race, I'll be ready with something to blame my bad performance on. I'm going to tell myself to suck it up, that I can't make up any excuses for myself. I'm here, and this is it, no excuses." I nodded and kept running. "You know, after four years of racing and searching for a motto that will stick with me while I'm running, you've just summed up cross country for me. Thanks," I remarked. Maryam took her words to heart. I made sure that when I saw her out on course, I reminded her, no excuses. Possibly because of those two words (oh, and a whole heck of a lot of dedicated training on her part), she not only took nearly a minute off of her previous 5k time (running a 21:21), but also split new mile and two mile PR's. You go girl!

One of the first things that my mom commented on after my race was how she found my attitude right before I entered the starting corral astonishing. She commented on how calm I was, considering that my race was to start less than thirty minutes from then. "I was surprised to see that your hands weren't shaking while you were twisting your racing chips into place." To be honest, I was in the zone, and just thinking those two words to myself. No excuses. During the race, I was more aware of what place I was in (27th by the first mile and 25th by mile two) than what my splits were. I definitely felt like a target that everyone behind me was aiming for while holding the 25th spot. It was quite reassuring when I finally passed the girl ahead of me, as all eyes shifted on her back. Rounding the last corner to the straight away, I was still in 24th. I glanced up at the clock, was completely shocked at the time, and kicked myself up into a higher gear. I clocked in at a 19:44 (my previous LPR was a 20:19 set back in my junior year), and ended up 23rd. Top 25 earn All-American Status. In my last high school cross country race ever, I accomplished my two ultimate high school goals that I'd promised myself I would achieve way back in my freshman year. Break 20, and have my picture join my brother's on the cafeteria wall at school (at Mt. Blue, all of the All-American athletes from every sport have a framed photo on the wall). My next "ultimate goal" is to eventually beat my mom's best 5k time, 18:58. 46 seconds to go. Now that it is less than a minute away, the goal seems a lot more attainable.

Sully Jackson also raced, and ended up besting his previous LPR by two seconds. Whoot! The Awards ceremony was incredibly long, but at the end we were able to get our pictures take with Zola Budd and Amy Yoder Begley, and get them to sign our race numbers. During the free time that we had until our returning flight, we rented a car (my mom surprised us with a red Mustang convertible, she's the coolest) and went cruising around Myrtle Beach. Let it be known that Maryam and I went swimming in the ocean on December 12. And who cares that it was 46 degrees out, it was still in December :P


We said we were going to do it, so we had to..


Loving the car :)

Not that this post needs anything else, but I felt the need to point out that both Maryam and I have battle wounds on our extended legs in our running pictures; she has a bruise shaped like a star, and I have a scar from a ski pole.
KKNW, Addie

MBXC 2011 Season Documentary

I know that I neglected to bring a charged and ready-to-go camcorder to a lot of the races later on in the season, and I apologize for it... but here is the product of a season's worth of dedication and fun that this team was able to enjoy. As the end slide says, I know that this team will carry on to be successful in the coming years, and I look forward to hearing about it.
Apologies for the awful quality, come find me sometime to see the real deal :)
KKNW,
Addie

Just Run.

This car was in my hotel parking lot at New Englands in Rhode Island this past weekend... they know whats up.



I got incredibly excited while my family was traveling to Franklin Park in Boston to watch one of Kelton's college meets this past weekend, and looked out and saw this license plate! I love the running community. (10/05/11)


I suppose I'll just keep adding to this as my "runner license plate" collection :P



KKNW, Addie