F the AD

I ran on the Wisconsin outdoor track yesterday!
For the first time ALL SEASON!
And...I wasn't even supposed to be there.

Yes, the amazing organization that is the athletic department decided to completely ignore our repeated requests for track time. They also were going to charge us some obscene amount of money to get track time at all...because although we are a registered student organization, apparently that wasn't enough for them - we needed to be sponsored by a department too. And yet, even after we got sponsorship from the opthamology department, they still paid no attention to us. So here it is, the last week of outdoor season, and we haven't been able to practice on an outdoor track once.

Now, I realize that the athletic department has a lot of weight, this being a DI school and all, and its their perogative if they want to be ridiculous about their track. BUT - if you're going to restrict a track to athletic teams only, the least you could do is have another location for the public, or at the very least, students. We're all paying a crapload of money to attend this university, and the athletic department hauls in so much money every year [hello, record numbers at Crazylegs?] its not like they're pressed for cash. Or like it would affect them THAT MUCH to let a student track organization practice on the track twice a week. And at the very least, give us the time of day. Acknowledge we exist, and don't ignore our requests until its way too late for them to even mean anything.

But despite all this - they leave the track open randomly all the time. So yesterday between classes, I went to do some steeple practice on the actual track, and it went pretty well! I definitely think I'm a lot stronger in the water pit than last year - I can launch myself pretty far out, even though I usually either two-foot the landing or put my hands down, if I can be only a few inches in the water, that would be fantastic! It was also really nice being on the track...and there's something really peaceful and calming about being on a track alone. I don't know what it is - I've kind of always felt this way. Usually at a meet or whatever, there's just so much going on, people flying everywhere, running, jumping, crap being thrown, whatever - and being there when everything is quiet and calm is just like taking a deep breath. I don't even know. Either way, it was nice, and I was happy with how my workout went, plus it made me laugh when just as I was leaving, some kind of official looking truck pulled in, and I just gave them one look and went sprinting away. Yeah, that's right. Suckas.

So did I mention I graduate in a week and a half? Yeah, it kind of snuck up on me too. I have been having these random moments lately where I get incredibly nostalgic about things. We're running a senior 4 x 400 with me, Nicole, Claire, and Kaitlyn - the girls who have been there since the beginning and the ones who've stuck with it all along - and I have a very bad feeling I'm probably going to burst into tears at the end haha. Considering I'm tearing up just thinking about this, I can say that that is a definite yes. I think it's pretty much impossible to put into words how much the track club has meant to me. The people I've met are absolutely incredible, the experience has been incredible, and I am a different, and better person, because of my time with the club. Oh but don't worry, there will be a whole post along these lines coming your way sometime soon. I swear, I am the most sentimental person alive...I definitely get that from my mom.

Time to go study some exercise physiology. Which probably should be interesting to me, and it is, kind of....but just not right now. :P