Things were not looking so good for our conference race. While we were at our race in Michigan, the conference course in Goshen, Indiana was under water. The map of the course was almost impossible to understand, and when we got to the park where we were running we got lost following the course. Needless to say, my expectations for the race were low.

So I took an ice bath. I probably looked really strange to the casual observer. I was standing at the hotel ice machine with the two trashcans from our room, filling them with as much ice as they would hold. If anyone had asked what I was doing, I would have told them that I was going to dump all the ice into my bathtub, which I was filling with cold water so that I could sit in it. It sounds crazy, but that's how we runners refresh our legs. Ice bathing helped take my mind off of the race, making falling to sleep very easy.

Morning came and it was bright and sunny. We went to the course and set up camp. Before we knew it, the girls were racing and we were up next. As the girls crossed the finish line, we noticed that many of them were running season-best times. The mood increased and we went to the line eager for our chance to run our best times.

My memory of the race is a blur. It seems like 27 minutes of running somehow got packed into a few seconds of my life. Time resumes at the finish line, and I remember seeing my teammates finish with many of them running their season-best times. (Chad and Kevin set their season bests by over a minute!) Needless to say, it ended up being a good weekend and race.

Our last two weeks of practice have been good. We are backing down our mileage and preparing for Christian Nationals this weekend at Cedarville. Our legs have been fresh and we have had some beautiful weather. The Rigor Mortis relay had a great student turnout, and everyone had a lot of fun. (Props to Mark for putting on a great event!) And while we're on the topic of Halloween…

I would like to take this time to apologize to the unknown candy hander-outer that we ran by on Trick-or-Treat night. It's kind of a long story…

The story starts as we are running down Gambier Street. We saw a man wearing a mask and carrying a sword, and as we ran by he started to run after us. Since it was Halloween, none of us were scared because we knew that the man meant no harm. As we continued on our way (the man did not chase us very far), we talked about how we could have chased him instead. I said that I should have freaked out and acted really scared because that probably wasn't the reaction he was expecting. We all laughed at our ideas and continued on our way.

About 20 minutes later, we saw another masked man with a fake knife running at us. Oh good! I thought. Another one! I freaked out and started screaming at the man about how he had better not touch me. The man stopped… and handed us small paper bags with Trick-or-Treat candy inside. We thanked him and went on our way. Well, I didn't thank him. I just kind of made noises as I tried to apologize, thank, and run away (before embarrassment killed me) all at the same time. So to the nice candy-giver, thank you and please don't take it personally that I yelled at you. You just happened to be the next person I saw dressed up and running at us, and I didn't see the candy.

I feel like this is a good moral story that I should teach to children, except that I take candy from a stranger at the end. Hmmm…

We will be racing at Cedarville again this weekend. (It will be my ninth time running there.) If you have wanted to come to a race, but haven't gotten to yet, this is your last chance! The weather is supposed to be nice, so it would be a great way to spend a fall Saturday.