Saturday, September 30, 2006

Twenty-nine.




Seventeen.

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

It's a good thing I wasn't on the road......

So Covenant made a rule last week that Cross country runners are no longer allowed to run on the roads because we might get hit by cars, the college might get sued, etc., etc., etc.

In light of this, I was not thrilled to do a 70 minute slow run on 2 miles of trails, so three of us set off for sunset rock on the bluff trail. The bluff trail is the rather treacherous 4 mile stretch of 2 foot wide rock strewn trail with cliffs on one side and a 150 foot drop on the other.

Normally we run to SS rock and then run back on the roads. But no more.

So yesterday, the three of us who did this run were on our way back, perhaps 1/4 of a mile after we left sunset rock, and I fell. I fell good.

I stepped on one of those jutting rocks with my right foot, which immediately caused my right ankle to decide that this was not going to work. My ankle gave out, and I fell headlong downhill and landed on the side of my left knee, and slid. I stood up with a significant amount of drama, making sure the other two guys felt sufficiently sorry for me and would be sufficiently impressed when I continued the run. The choices were these: 1) Go back to SS rock, up to the road, and wait for one of them to run back to the school and bring a car for me, or 2) run back on the trail and risk it. So I did the latter, and frankly, it helped my knee feel a little better. On the way back, I made sure to ask the guys leading questions that would ensure their stories made me out to have survived something terrible.

Well, we got back to school without further incident and I went to the Athletic training room for a cursory examination to make sure that nothing was too terribly messed up.

As the trainer started to examine my knee and leg (something that had not been done in quite a while) she was pressing my kneecap, feeling the tendons and cartilage therein.

The part that bothers me the most, I think, is the word she used to describe the cartilage in my knee.

She said "Crunchy."

I'm not sure I like the sound of that at all.

Then she was pressing under the bone all the way down my shin and said "Tell me if anything hurts." OK, yeah, whatever, I always hear that, and it never does, so I looked away and my mind started to wander. Remember how I said it never does? Well, this time, it did. Apparently I made quite the reaction when she felt the inside of my left shin just above the ankle. (Hope, Katie, and Amanda, that's the medial side inferior of the tibia, proximal to the tarsals, distal to the patella)

Her response: "Wow, I didn't expect you to go through the roof."

The diagnosis: A banged up knee with possible messed up ligaments (I'm on my way there now for further examination), a "crunchy" kneecap, and stress fractures waiting to happen in my lower leg.

Yep, I sure am glad they're looking our for our safety by confining us to the trails. Somebody could get hurt.

Monday, September 18, 2006

It was an Earl Grey and Galatians kind of night.....

Good night dear friends, for I go to bed soon. In the past 5 hours, I have read approximately 130 pages on ethics and the Gospel of John, drank 1 cup of strong black tea, and had a 30-minute interlude to read articles on Biblical justification of using deadly force in self defense. Yes, I had an argument with Hope last night.

But before I go to bed, I need to re-read my Galatians memorization assignment for small group tomorrow.

Tomorrow morning at 7:30.

Good night.

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

In R&R yesterday....

Yesterday, I was in my Renaissance & Reformation class (the one where I have the most trouble focusing), and the lecture was going something like this.....

Prof: And humanism can has been defined by our author in three different ways.....

Me: Humanism? who cares? Oh, right, Renaissance ideas. Man, I wish I could focus. I need to stay awake. Hmmm...... practice today is going to be hard in this weather. Nah, it'll be fun. Dang it. Gotta focus. Gotta stay awake.

Prof: Now I'm wondering who has been paying attention, and will notice a striking similarity between this definition of humanism and the......

Me: I hope he doesn't call on me. I wasn't paying attention. He'll know it. Maybe I would pay better attention if I actually did the reading before class. Hmmm......well maybe if I just read the documents. Wait, maybe if I wrote his third definition in German. Yeah! that's it! I'll take my notes in German, and then I'll have to focus. OK, the third definition of humanism, when he gets to it, I will write in German. OK, time to tune back in......

Prof: .....the militantly anthropocentric and frequently irreligious ideology of the 20th century.....

Me: Well, let's see.......the, and, of, the, 20th..... that's pretty much all the German I know from that sentence. OK, so the marathon world record is 2:05:14. Geez, that guy was cruising. That averages......(does some figuring) less than 4:45 per mile! Wow......

Saturday, September 09, 2006

It grows closer....

Today's race was a nice course, but the first mile was unfortunately a combination of flat and slightly downhill, sedusing runners to go far too fast. My first mile was 5:36, to give you an indication.

The rest of the course was flat and rolling hills, my overall time was 30:11. My goal of 29:59 draws nigh.....

Take care folks.

Monday, September 04, 2006

Weekend update.

Good weekened.

First race of the season, and I ran a personal best of 30:34, good for 5th place on the team. We took 10th of 15, but 1st of the teams in our division that were there.

Katie and Amanda came up, much to my surprise, and we all had a good time together with Annie, Hope, Joben, Katz, Ben, and company.

We celebrated Rachelle's birthday with some of her friends at Panera in Chatt-town.

I talked to Micah (again), and we figured out (again) how to save the world (northeastern Africa).

So much for getting schoolwork done......