Sept. 30, 2004

Garden City, N.Y. - Friday September 24, 2004

The cross country team departed for a cross country meet in Boston, MA. This would be my first away meet as an Adelphi panther. I can only speak for myself when I say that I was pumped up and ready to run since I woke up. I awoke at normal time grabbed my traveling bag and headed for school. Out of three classes I was only able to go to the first two then I headed for Woodruff hall. The two classes I did go to went by so fast I thought I was dreaming. The team met at Woodruff hall at 12:00 PM. and we started our trip at 1:00.

All the guys were in one van and all the girls in the other. Before we got on the road we stopped at the local 7 eleven. For the first part of the trip most of the guys were sleeping while the others listened to music. After a while the two coaches Mike and Adam along with the captain Ryan began a debate over what declares an activity as a sport. Just listening to the debate made the trip up to Boston a lot of fun. each of them came up with their own rules as to how something is or isn't a sport. The debate ended when we stopped for a bathroom break. When we got back on the road the van turned into a game show. The coaches vs. all the runners. Trivia questions went back and fourth about music and movies. "Who sang this song? Who produced it? What movie was it in? Who was the main actor in the movie?" Each team getting a point for each correct answer.

When we got to the hotel we put our bags in our rooms, then we had a quick meeting with the coaches, after that it was off to the mall for dinner. Since we were at the mall some of the girls decided to go shopping. When we got back to the rooms some of the guys played cards then we went to sleep to get rested up for the race.

Saturday September 25, 2004-Race Day

We got packed up and ready to leave the hotel, left out the lobby at 9:45 AM. We got in the vans and went to a bagel shop for breakfast. No later than 10:30 we were out of there and headed for the park. So far so good. We followed the directions from the hotel and were headed on the right track. Somehow we ended up going the wrong way and couldn't find the park. We had to get to the park in time for the women's race at 12:00. We had to ask people on the street where to go, then we asked a cop for directions, we even stopped at a train station to ask for directions. While we were at the train station one of the guys we asked for directions tried to hustle the coach. He wanted a quarter in exchange for directions, but there was a lady sitting right next to him that told us where to go saving the coach a whole 25 cents. By this time it was about 10 minutes until the women's race was to go off. They would have no time to warm up but they were still determined to run. They were in the van dressed in their running attire ready to go but we were still not in sight of the park. We managed to reach the park with about two minutes before the race is scheduled to go off. The girls jumped out the van and ran for the starting line only to find that the race had already gone off.

The girls were upset but this only made the guys more determined to run hard. The officials decided to allow the girls to start off with the guy's race and finish where there supposed to end. We all warmed up and got to the line ready to run. The gun went off and I went out ready to do my best. I felt good for the first two miles then everything went down hill. My legs started to get heavy and tight from sitting in the van for two hours before the race. on top of that the cold I was fighting showed that it was still there. As I was running my throat closed up a little bit making it hard to breath. I ran 32:50 min. My slowest time so far this cross country season.

Over all I had a lot of fun on this trip, I wasn't happy with my race but it was still worth the trip. I got a chance to see what the course was like and now I know how to run it next time we go to Boston. I also got to hang out with the team some more and I'm looking forward to the next away meet.

-Aaron Warner

Aaron is a freshman from Queens Village, New York and is a member of the men's cross country team.