Sick!!!

I guess it had to happen sometime. On Monday I came down with some illness that has plauged me all week. Thankfully today, Friday, I am finally feeling the signs of recovery, but these past few days have definitely been ones to forget. Late nights, long days, stressful studying, constant lethary, and three boxes of kleenex sum it up pretty well. Luckily My teachers were extreamly helpful and worked with me so I didn't fall behind in my assignments. My "forehead thermometer" (shown above) was not not nearly as helpful. I must say I was severly disapointed with the quality of feverscan. The highest reading I ever got to was 96.4 degrees. 96.4 degrees? Really?

Kansas City Half Marathon

Today I am sore. Yesterday I ran the Kansas City Half Marathon. The day started out by having to wake up at 5:30 in the morning so that my Dad, sister and I could make it to the starting line on time. It was 40 degrees when we arrived at the race and a steady drizzle made stretching miserable. Thankfully by seven o'clock the weather had cleared up and the sun was clearing out the darkness. I began the race with a pace group whose goal was to finish the 13.1 miles in one hour and forty-five minutes. Although this is faster than the pace I usually run at in long distance training I felt ready to step up for the occasion. As I ran along I had to constant support of Kelly Daly, Erin Prendergast, Kim Patterson, and Nicole Dejanes who decided to give up their Saturday morning and come out to cheer for runners like me. Thanks guys!!! Around the five mile mark I began to feel slightly fatigued from the several hills in the beginning of the race. I wish now that I had Incorporated more hill work into my training schedule. Finally at the nine mile mark I fell off of the hour forty-five pace group and ran at a much more comfortable gait. It was not until midway through the twelfth mile that I began to pick up the pace again. My final time was 1:48:12 and I am satisfied with it. My initial plan was to run at a 8:30 mile pace and finish in 1:51:00 so I felt accomplished to do better. After the race I met up with my sister and Dad for one of the best afternoons I have had since coming to college. Certainly the free endorphins still circulating from the race helped my mood but the large chocolate-fudge-brownie from Coldstone Creamery also helped :)

Big Man on Campus

Tonight I went to see the Big Man on Campus competition put on by the Rockhurst Zeta's. BMOC is a fundraiser and part of a week long effort to raise awareness of breast cancer by the Zeta's. Most of the contestants were upperclassmen but there were a few freshmen boys competing including the overall winner John Merlo. Each contestant performed a skit in front of a panel of Zeta judges. Merlo lip-synced and danced to a "Party in the U.S.A" remix while dressed as Miley Cirus. My favorite was when Fred Grossman danced to Owl City's "Fireflies" and threw gold glitter out over the panel of judges. All of the contestants evoked a positive response from the audience, no tomatoes were thrown, and in the end a freshman won. Success.

With the exception that I still failed to win somthing in a raffle. Be patient readers, my time will come.

Hypnotic Humor

Last week I decided to take a break from my incessant schoolwork and watch hypnotist Jim Wand work his magic in the convocation center. Initially I promised myself to avoid being hypnotized since I was not sure of just how this particular hypnotist handled his participants. After his introduction, however, I found myself drifting back to the first time I was hypnotized last year and couldn't help but want to do it again. I was one of the first chosen to go up and took my place in front of the audience with around twenty others. The process of going under did not take long for me. We were instructed to focus our attention on a small light and listen to the hypnotist at the same time as he gave a few simple instructions. After approximately thirty seconds my eyes began to blink rapidly and I felt myself slipping towards that blissful state of relaxation known as hypnosis. I remember everything that occurred from the moment I went under till the moment we were told to "wake up". The entire saga of what transpired that evening would be too lengthy to recount so I'll give the condensed version:


I became a siamese triplet with the two girls on either side of me in the picture below, when asked what the best thing about being a siamese triplet was I replied "having three stomachs", after being separated from my sisters I joined several other guys as we mimicked the dancing of a small doll controlled by the hypnotist; the doll was followed by having to give birth to a child which I named Leonidas in honor of my favorite actor from three hundred and after the childbirth everyone became a duck in search of food which we found in the a vast cornfield which paled in comparison to my sensational performance as Britney Spears singing and dancing "...Baby One More Time" (notice the songs title does not include "hit me" in it because the record executives were worried that it would condone domestic violence: Kudos to Wikipedia for that bit of info) even though I only knew the refrain because my parents prohibited me from listening to secular music in fourth grade.


And then I snapped out of it, peaceful and refreshed after a full hour of relaxation.