It's spring break right? Wrongggg. Well, yeah it is, but I'm not off school or on vacation..unless you count the brief weekend trip to Rockport for a trackmeet (stay tuned..) and the dismal rainy weather makes it feel anything but spring. Oh, but there is spring cleaning..that has to count for something, right?Anyways, over this past weekend, besides getting my life back in order (haha no big deal!) there was the annual Rockport track meet. I tried hard not to be disheartened by the overcast weather (which eventually turned into pouring rain) that cancelled the trackmeet, ruined the beach, and sent my beloved seagulls into hibernation.
Disappointed? Yeahhh..I was. :/ Especially since it was my last chance to run at Rockport! And possible last time at the beach.
On the upside, I had a crazy fun trip down to the coast that included a rather haphazard bathroom stop and a photoshoot..which explains all the random pictures dispersed throughout this post. And also, the hotel hangout that night was crazyyy awesome..
Red bull. Coffee. Apples to Apples. Tasting ALL THE ICE. Coffee. Poker...guess who won? Not me. But I was close! haha. Barefoot trips to the Valero across the street (no shoes..no service? who thought THAT one up?!) Coffee. Talking to people I hadn't really gotten to know yet. COFFEE!! Candy. Spending the night on the hotel floor with Destiny..and laughing and crying about stuff in our lives. Bonding, for sure ;)
And then the coach decides to tell us about midnight that we'll be getting up at six-thirty in the morning for a mandatory long run. Ouch. But despite how antagonistic I felt towards it at first, it was actually quite amazinggg running three miles in the mist beside the bay and the seagulls.
Not to mention that after that there was muffins and more coffee for breakfast, followed by vicious card games in the lobby before walking off to the beach with a group of friends, singing boisterous songs under our umbrellas. ;)
Enough about Rockport already. There's more important stuff to discuss..like an amazing breakthrough I witnessed on our track team last night at practice.Ever since my first year, I've been slightly discouraged by the way a certain group of runners on our team seem to clique together and ice the rest of the team out, as if they're somehow superior to everyone else just because they're the fastest, best-looking, or know each other outside of track. I mean, sure, I don't expect you to be my best friend, but really? We've been running together three years and you've never so much as bothered to learn my name?
Because there wasn't a strong 'welcoming committee' on the team, a lot of first-timers never came back, and other runners consistently confided in me that they felt there wasn't enough unity...there was just one main group of friends and everyone else faded out into the fringes.
I wanted to change that. So it became my goal, from the start of this season, that I would find a way to bring all of the "everybody elses" together. We might never be a part of "them", but it was important that everyone felt they were included among most of the team members.
I got to know almost everyone on the team (quite a feat, considering there's 137 of us...) but was simply failing in trying to bring everyone together. So I just prayed about it. God, please, before I leave the team, let me just see that what I've been working so hard on is paying off!
And then last night, I noticed that several people I'd introduced to each other were gathering together, and then more were joining...and talking! And laughing. Guys, girls, middleschool, highschool, newbies and runners who'd been on the team for years alike..were finally coming together until we were just one huge circle of friendship standing in the middle of the field talking about everything and nothing and pie.
No big deal? Well, it kind of was to me. #breakthrough!
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