Senior Lyndy Davis resumes her role as the official blogger of the women’s cross country team. Giving fans insights into the life as a Portland Pilot runner, you can follow Lyndy and the team’s adventures by bookmarking www.portlandpilots.com/DavisBlog.
September 22, 2012
We just finished out first varsity race of the season. Out of my 5 years of being a Pilot, I would say traveling to Toledo was the most difficult/complicated air travel of my college career. Unfortunately, due to some heavy fog in San Francisco, our Portland flight was delayed and we missed our transfer. Lucky for us, we got extra free beverages and flight time than we anticipated. The airlines changed our tickets to Houston and then to Cleveland. On a positive note, most of the team had never been to Houston. Needless to say, the team got really good at making friends with the passengers on the planes (because all ten of us had middle seats). After we got to Cleveland, we had a nice van ride to Toledo. At this point in the trip, some of the girls had gone delirious from the travel. Uncontrollable giggles from Tansey and Rosie kept Ian wide awake on the drive to the hotel. Like a team, we all crammed into the tiny elevator at the hotel and at last, we flopped into our comfy hotel beds.
The Toledo course was an out and back course on a nice golf course. The Pilots had several unexpected fans: Maddie had Midwest visitors along with Tansey’s family. Tansey even found a long lost cousin at the meet. Our enthusiastic UPXC alumni Theresa Hailey even came out to the race (making this 2-2 this season). One unique aspect about this cross country meet was the golf carts. Each coach/school had a cart they could use during the race---not the runners, but the spectators. It was funny to see several golf carts flying across the field yelling and cheering for the runners.
Julia Fonk had a stellar race, coming in 5th for the Pilots and using her track speed on the 4k course. Laura and Tansey both had solid races, bringing in the front pack of the team. Also, Natasha and Rosie also had strong performances and have much more in the tank for the upcoming races. Unfortunately the team did not race up to our full potential this race , but we all came away really excited for the Roy Griak Invitational next week in Minnesota. We learned how to race well as a team and what we need to do to be ready for the climax of the season.
The team ended the night with a Thai dinner. Our freshman, Anne, had Thai for the first time and it probably won’t be her last… I don’t think it is an exaggeration to say that Thai is the team’s favorite food (especially Merel’s).
Thanks for reading. Now it’s off to Minnesota next weekend for a hilly 6k.
