Finals

Quote of the day: I just want to be in a passing bunch! - Nick
Song of the day: Down In Flames by Reel Big Fish

Today, C term ended!! yayyy!!

C term was tiring. Wintery and cold and long. And my classes were kind of boring. I think I did okay in them though. Definitely did well in CS and stats; lin alg, not so much. Oh well. I'm hoping to end up with a B in that class. We'll see.

I'm home now for a week. My schedule next term is saweeeeet! 3 hours of class Mon, Tues, Thurs, and Fri...Wednesdays off. I can't wait. And no swimming...officially. Definitely will be lifting though, and probably swimming with Andrew. He didn't make nationals, by the way. He was 25th and they took 22. Oh well. 3 more years, 3 more chances! I told him we'd go together next year. THAT would be awesome. Anyway, I'm playing intramural soccer (on the swim team's team, haha) and doing water polo club too. It should be a fun term. It will be nice outside and I'll have lots of time to do fun stuff. woohoo!!

Elbow Injury

Quote of the day: Apparently it was "my fault" because I was "in the way." Pshh. - Jetta
Song of the day: We Are Broken by Paramore

I don't remember if I mentioned this before or not, but I managed to injure myself swimming. Yes. I injured myself. swimming. in a race. at NEWMACS.

......

I know right?!

Anyway, here's what happened. It was finals of the 200 free relay and I was anchoring our A relay. I was swimming into the wall, and of course I wanted to get there as soon as possible so I stretched my arm out as far as I could and hit the wall pretty hard (after all, it was my fastest 50 free ever). Ouch. I got out, and my elbow was hurting. It mostly just hurt to straighten all the way. I thought it would get better, but it hurt all weekend. It definitely got a little better, but not completely. By Sunday at least it didn't hurt to swim. It never really hurt to race (adrenaline...you don't feel anything) but I could definitely feel it during warmup. I swam through it at practice all week leading up to ECACs, and on Monday of this week went to the trainer. She said I probably 1) hyperextended it 2) strained it a bit and 3) have "soft tissue bruising". Super!

So all week I've been going to the trainer to get stim, ice/heat, and rehab exercises. Little forearm curls and tricep/bicep curls, and this weight on a string attached to a little pole, that I have to unravel and roll back up. Let me just say, my forearms are going to be absolutely ripped after this rehab is over!! While I'm home this week I'll probably do the exercises and ice a little bit... and take time off from swimming. I was supposed to be resting my elbow... but I swam twice this week; I couldn't stay away. Oops. Hopefully not doing any swimming will help it feel better, because going to the trainer all week hasn't done anything at all. It still hurts to straighten and bend all the way. In fact, I think the stim is making it more tender. I don't know... it sucks though. At least the season's over. But really, injuring myself racing at NEWMACS? I thought it was impossible. Apparently, I was wrong.

boo.

Chocolate and Raspberry

Quote of the day: Alana, that's a lot of raspberry! -Lee
Song of the day: Let Me Go by Cake (haha...Cake)

So, now that NEWMACs are over, the dessert challenge is also over! I never fully explained this but basically one day Lee and I decided we wouldn't eat dessert for a week. Then after that week we extended it through Men's NEWMACs. We did sometimes eat dessert for special occasions such as birthdays. Anyways it all started about a month ago.

Finally it's over and I decided about 2 weeks ago to bake a cake in celebration. This cake is chocolate, with raspberry jam in the middle, and dark chocolate icing all over. Let me tell you, it is delicious. I think it is the most scrumptious cake I have ever baked. Yum.

We baked this cake at Lee's apartment, and everything went smoothly except for the raspberry-jam-application. I tried to put the jam on before the cake was fully cooled....oops! It started breaking apart a little, but it was okay because I just filled the cracks with raspberry jam. You can see the cracks in the top picture. As a result the cake oozed raspberry jam when you cut it, but I think it was more tasty because of it and very moist.

The bottom picture is the finished product. Needless to say I'm proud of it!! :)

Caution: Heaved Walkway

Quote of the day: Does anyone know what "Heaved Walkway" means? -Everyone on campus

Song of the day: Long Road to Ruin by the Foo Fighters

On Friday, the administration (or somebody, I don't know) put up like 20 signs around the campus center that read: "Caution: Heaved Walkway". These signs were everywhere in that little area! Granted, the sidewalk was a little uneven but it wasn't that big of a deal. Everyone that I walked by was talking about the heaved walkways. Apparently some ice got underneath the cement and messed it up. I'm not sure but it was quite a sight.

On Monday, when I got back from boys NEWMACs, it had snowed, and I noticed a sign that said: "Caution: Uneven Walkway. Please watch your step". Definitely a more user-friendly but kind of silly that they changed it. I wonder if the snow knocked some of them over or something. Some of the original "Heaved Walkway" signs were still up.

Whatever. WPI is silly. I like it. =D

Synchronized Swimming

Question: If one synchronized swimmer drowns, do the rest have to also?

Anyway, I was just wondering about this banner that was up at Wheaton. It says:

1999
U.S. Collegiate Outstanding

Synchronized Swimmer of the Year

Gina Lighthall

Now what I want to know is how one synchronized swimmer can be more outstanding than the rest of them. Is she more in sync or something? Paul told me that they do figures and stuff individually too. I don't really know anything about it. Oh well. Just throwing that out there.



Also Lee sent me this picture of the expired elevator from the hotel the boys stayed in NEWMACs. Elevators are expired everywhere!!!

Boys Newmacs/ ECACs

Snow on the Riley half-wall

Quote of the day: I'm entertained just watching you. -Lee
Song of the day: The Scientist by Coldplay

So, boys NEWMACs was fantastic...lots of great swims. They came in 4th overall behind MIT, Coast Guard, and Springfield. They beat Wheaton by only 5 points...a close one! Lee came in 5th in the 50 free and broke our school record (21.31) and Andrew won the 200 fly in a 1:52., also a school record. Also pretty sweet is that he made the B cut for NCAAs, and we find out tomorrow whether he gets to go to nationals!! I hope he does!

Another cool thing about boys NEWMACs was that it was at Wheaton College...10 min from my house. I went up to Wheaton with my friend Paul on Friday evening, then slept at home Friday and Saturday nights! I timed for Friday finals which was pretty cool. My dad came and picked me up after they were over. It was nice to sleep in my own bed for a couple nights.

I drove myself to Saturday night finals and just hung out on the deck. It was better than being in the stands and easier (obviously) than timing.
Sunday I went to prelims and timed with Toni, then went home for a couple hours and made delicious mac and cheese. My dad dropped my sister and me off Sunday night and I timed again. I took the bus back to school. About an hour after I got back I mysteriously started feeling like I had a cold. lame! So now I'm kind of sick. At least it waited until after swimming finished up.

ECAC (Eastern College Athletic Conference) Championships were Friday-Sunday. It was prelims/finals just like NEWMACs. Both our medley relays qualified, as well as Karen in the breastrokes and me in the 100 fly. Paul decided to only send us Saturday for the 100 fly and breast, and 200 medley relay. Matt acted as head coach since Paul was at Wheaton. So in the ECACs there are a bunch of different teams. Some were division 1. The Navy Academy was there, as well as many other schools.

I traded caps with this kid from Baruch College, which I just looked up and found out it is apparently the "City University of New York City." I've never heard of it, but whatever. He was sitting next to me and asked me to trade. I got a brand new cap out of the deal! It was kind of cool. I also traded with a Navy kid on behalf of Karen because for some reason she couldn't do it herself. Now she has a sweet yellow Navy swim cap! :)

Anyway, on to the swimming. We swam the 200 medley relay and went a few seconds slower than at NEWMACs. I went 26.9 in my 50 fly, not too shabby for an extra week of taper. The next event we had was my 100 fly...pretty much the main reason I was at ECACs. I really really wanted to break a minute and this meet was my last chance for the season to do it. I went 1:00.57. I was so disappointed after. Partially because I didn't reach my 59. goal and partly because I was wondering why I went the same speed two weekends in a row. Next year I need a bit longer of a taper, apparently. Oh well. Karen went a 1:10 in her 100 breaststroke and Toni time trialed a 1:05 in the 100 back. Kaitlyn, Karen, and I time trialed the 50 free and all went kinda slow. I was the fastest at 26.18. Ah well. It's tough to extend your taper for an extra week. I also wore my lzr for the last time. Apparently we are selling them to MIT for Nationals...they can't use their blueseventys but lzrs are allowed (?). Anyway it's good because it cuts the cost of the suits for us a little bit.

So, ECACs were a good experience but I was sad that I didn't go 59. Next season I'll be way under that, guaranteed. I think I'm even more motivated now, if that's possible. After the meet I thought I would need some time off from swim, but I swam with Andrew on Monday (he needed a buddy) and I remembered that I just love to swim. So, minimal time off will be taken. yay.

OH, funny story: On the way to ECACs Matt was driving. Apparently, he doesn't know how to get to Harvard, and the GPS led us astray. So we drove all around Boston with no clue where to go. It was hilarious. Matt was clearly embarrassed but it was funny all the same. :) I like to give him a hard time.

Recap: Very happy swimming is over officially and ended on a fairly good note. Can't wait to get back in the water though. Weird, huh?