Getting Ready To Run: Part I

Day 1: Sunday, August 21

This morning was the easiest morning to wake up all summer. The first thing I thought of when I woke up was that my teammates and I are going to Foundation Running Camp. The day was finally here! Last year, going to this camp was one of the best experiences of my summer, and I could barely wait to go back again. So I sprang out of bed, got ready, and realized that I had to finish packing. I threw in all the things that I'd forgotten about the night before, zipped up my suitcase, grabbed breakfast out the door, and drove to North Shore High School to get on the bus to camp.

Seeing all my teammates together for the first time in a couple of months made me look forward to camp even more. Long bus rides usually make me extremely annoyed and bored, but the bus ride to Copake was painless (it only took two and a half hours)!

When we arrived at camp there was a huge thunder and lightning storm, but it didn’t matter as we quickly got off the bus and checked into camp. Next my teammates and I had to face the treacherous walk from check-in to our cabin. It wasn't treacherous because it was a long walk, but because we had to carry our multiple, fully-packed bags. Brianna Nerud and I were by far the most over-packed, so we were forced to make two trips from the bus to the cabin to bring in all of our stuff.

When I walked into my cabin, I was reminded by how spacious, clean, and new my cabin was. We had some time to kill before our run that afternoon, so I made my bed, unpacked some of my stuff, and talked with my cabin-mates and got to know the ones that I didn't know well or at all.

At this point, the weather turned out to be really nice. It was sunny and humid out, but comfortable. At four o'clock, we go down to the big grassy field to do a camp rope stretching routine. Of course, when the stretching is finishing up and we are about to start running, we see the sky darkening and hear thunder in the distance.

While we were running, it was the most awkward weather. It was sunny and humid out again, but there was thunder in the distance. However, we were able to make it through our run without any rain. The run was very enjoyable! All of the running groups ran on campus for today's run, since it was the first day and the runners could get a tour of the camp. We ran the 5k course a few times, which was mostly dirt trails so they were great to run on. After our run, a few other girls and I did some strides. Then it was time to go to the dining hall for dinner.

At dinner, we were presented with a variety of choices. There were chicken fingers, mashed potatoes, pasta, peas, and a couple of salad bars. There was something for everyone. Most people are under the impression that camp food is disgusting, but here the camp food is actually really good!

After dinner, we went back to our bunks to shower and get ready for the opening ceremonies at the theater. The opening ceremonies were delayed for a half an hour because the storm hit again. But once we  made our way to the theater, we were entertained with campers going on stage and competing in various events. Then we were introduced to our color war captains, who got us psyched for one of the main events of camp, the color war. Afterwards, we had some time to hang out and get some food if we wanted to before our curfew. Today was an enjoyable day, and I'm so excited for the rest of the week!

Talk to you tomorrow. ♦

Day 2: Monday, August 22

Last night was a restless night. After such an amazing first day, I didn't want to go to sleep; in fact I wasn't tired at all. So although I didn't get a good night's sleep, I got out of bed and started getting ready for the day ahead of me.

I started my day in my newly bought Nike Pros (in black; keeping it classy) from the runner's edge store on campus. Walking to the stretching area, late as usual, we were constantly reminded to keep slack in our ropes. "We're not stretching the rope, we're stretching YOU," was repeated quite frequently.

After about a half an hour of stretching, Cabin 1 girls took the daily trip to the bathroom, lasting about 15 minutes, and prepared to do a three-mile tempo run. The course had scenic rolling hills. I really enjoyed the course, because after you get past the hills, it's all downhill after that! At the end of the workout I loved seeing my teammates coming in after one another.

After lunch we got a chance to attend "breakout sessions." "Breakouts" are 40-minute classes teaching us about various topics related to running. I particularly enjoyed "The Magical Life of Momo," with counselor/former state champion Chris Mammone talking about what it takes to be an extraordinary runner, using his past experiences as a high school, collegiate, and beyond runner. It made me even more motivated to keep working hard.

After the breakouts we had an afternoon workout. The afternoon workout didn’t necessarily mean a second run; there were a ton of other options, such as Zumba dance, core, piloga, lake swim, and pool workout. I chose to do the core, and learned many new hip exercises which is actually an often-neglected part of the core. I will probably incorporate these into my own core routine.

Following the afternoon workout was dinner time. This time, we didn’t eat food from the dining hall — we were pleasantly surprised with a BBQ serving hamburgers, veggie burgers, hot dogs, French fries, and watermelon! It was especially delicious.

Finally, we had to get ready for the night-time activity, which was the Talent Show, where campers and counselors had the ability to perform any kind of act that they wanted. Dragged into humiliating myself on stage, I preformed Niki Minaj's "Super Bass" with a bunch of my friends who often crave public humiliation. Creative raps were made, a glow-in-the-dark light show was featured, and tomorrow we find out who the judges chose as the winner! ♦