Thursday, October 30, 2008

3 hours behind? Zzzzzz! Snow? Brrrr!

Tuesday was a shock to my system. I went from spending a weekend in 90 degree temperatures to running after school Tuesday with the XC boys in 38 degree pouring rain/sleet. Ugh! And, this was after waking up on Tuesday at 5:30am (which felt like 2:30 am Arizona time). Then, we go outside for practice on Wednesday and there's a layer of snow on the football field. What's going on?!?!? At least today was nicer and they're forecasting high 50's and sunny for the state XC meet on Saturday.

This snow yesterday was appropriate, as last night I had my first church choir Christmas music rehearsal. It just doesn't get better than praising God and belting out Christmas tunes. I love it! The music director makes "part" CD's (I'm a bass), where she overlays the music with the specific line (soprano, alto, tenor, or bass). I then transfer it to my Itunes and listen to it on my IPod either to or from work for the next six weeks. It's great!

A couple of last items to wrap up from the trip that I forgot in my hasty blog at the Phoenix airport:

*Thanks so much again to my parents for doing EVERYTHING for us this trip: driving, dinners, pickups, waiting while Beth & I were at the course,...the list goes on and on!

*I was talking to the one other cross country coach and he was asking me how the trip was and I used the word "flawless." He gave me a quizzical look and said that not many people could say that about travel across the US today. But, probably the biggest complaint I had was the big guy sitting beside me on the plane out to Phoenix (stay on YOUR side of the armrest, please!) and that we left Phoenix 10 minutes after our listed departure time. That's it! Everything else went great travel-wise.

*Maybe it's because I wasn't sore or tired from racing, but I had so much fun on Sunday. Beth did great at the race and because of the setup of the loops I was all over the course and able to see her 8 or 9 times. We had a relaxing afternoon watching the Steelers (although they blew it in the 4th quarter), a super time out to eat with other BOUS racers (like Chris, Cindi, Kristel, Lindsay, Eddie, and Sydney) where I just enjoy listening to their conversations and picking their brain about competing at that level since I don't get a chance to experience it first hand....although I'm along for the ride second-hand with Beth!

*The scenery is just so awesome out there. The Tempe Town Lake set against the backdrop of the desert and mountains is so pretty. On the morning we left, I went over to the bridge (site of Beth's little bike fender-bender!) and took a picture of the ASU football stadium that sits between two mountains. The mountains in Arizona just put me in awe. How can it be so flat and these pieces of rock just jut out of nowhere so high? Below is a picture of it.

...by the way, this was the site of the best college football game EVER, as underdog Penn State went out to the desert on January 2, 1987 and conquered the #1 Miami Hurricanes and Heisman winner Vinnie Testaverde 14-10. I was 9 years old when that game happened and my dad made me go to bed at halftime because I had school the next day. The nice part was that he taped it and I watched it EVERY time I stayed home stick until I graduated from high school. I can practically rattle off the whole first quarter right now. A few years back, I got my dad a DVD of the original NBC broadcast of the game. We watched last Christmas break on his projector screen and I was still getting chills as they held off Miami in the last minute.

Sports Briefs

*PSU (#3) is in great shape to have a good finish to the year. I thought the PSU-OSU game was going to be a high-scoring affair. Instead, it was 13-6. What a great game of perseverance. We'll have to see if PSU can heal up this week and keep winning with a tough game at Iowa next weekend. Also, hopefully Alabama or Texas will trip up at some point over the next few weeks.

*Pitt lost to RUTGERS. That's all I really need to say about that.

*The Steelers lost, but that's okay because they're still in good shape in the AFC.

*Congrats to the Phillies and all my college buddies from the Philly area that I play fantasy baseball with. I can only imagine what it's like to have a World Series Champion. Someday, the Pirates will get back to respectability. Also, congrats to the Tampa Bay Rays for a fantastic season. They had plenty of opportunities to crumble back to mediocrity during the season but made it to play in the last game of the year.

1 comment:

Kim said...

So glad you guys had a "Flawless" trip. They sometimes go like that and I have to say Hawaii was just about the same way (except for living with a little drama of 6 people in the same house)! I'll tell you guys about THAT sometime! Anyway, I agree on the cold, I wasn't ready, still am not ready, but it defnitely coming and that is it! So glad for Beth on her last race of the season - She ROCKED it!! Talk soon!! OH and how bout Penn State!! We're going to the Championships Baby (unless that jinxes us, then..um..we're not!)