Celebrating Our School Colors

It could've been worse; it could've been red, my least favorite color...Really, I was blessed. I definitely didn't see it that way back then. Our school colors were purple & white. And with white being such a "non" color, color - the purple at school events seemed all that much more enhanced & overused. Purple wasn't a bad color, it's just that blue & green were just better. We've already established all of this. 😂

However, everything we ate ended up being grape flavored - so that we'd be "supporting" the school & have "team spirit" while at events. We were on sporting teams, yet we were supplied plenty of "pure sugar" items such as these & these. I particularly remember consuming lots of these.

Incidentally as our team uniforms were all purple & white, wearing anything with the uniforms that came in purple, worked great. Obviously white was the easy accessory & the girls wore plenty of these to pull back their hair. We also got lucky, or should I say, they, as I didn't have "spikes" as we called them. That'd be an extra, unnecessary cost for us [read: Mom & Dad] & my brother & I weren't top charting runners so it didn't add up (no pun intended!) for our family to cough up the additional money.

During my time on the team, the sports catalog from which the sporting department ordered happened to carry two pairs of spiked running shoes, like these. One was, I believe, to the greater extent, pink; the other, was, well, purple & white. So, yeah, every. single. girl who wore spikes to run during meets, ordered this model. Why wouldn't they? 😂

One could say that when I headed off to college, I picked my future alma mater because of their school colors (athletic: green, & academic: blue), though the colors ended up a simple added convenience. What I can say for certain is that by the time college came around, we'd all moved on & I never found myself offered a [green] apple or [blue] raspberry sugar flavored candy or drink on campus.

*****

And just because I particularly enjoy the annual "Tear Fest", go ahead & check out this year's Beloit College Mindset List here where JFK, Jr. has always been deceased for this year's incoming freshman class. 😭




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Running While Wearing Eyewear

Back when I participated on our high school's cross country team I wore glasses (spectacles, if you will). I began wearing them while still in elementary school, although I didn't need to be wearing them "full-time" until after I attained my diplomas. I wore them most often in the classroom & at various times when at Mom & Dad's house. Sometimes I'd go running while wearing them too.

A teammate also wore glasses, though they wore theirs all the time. When we'd be at cross country practice they'd attach these to the sides of their glasses &, from what we could tell, they never encountered any problems.

I never ended up wearing glasses quite so much, though there were a few days when, because I'd worn my glasses for so many hours while in classes, I could feel that my eyes had adjusted more intensely those days to my prescription & elected to leave my glasses on while I ran during practice.

More often than not, by the time practice had finished up, my glasses were sliding down my face & creating an expression of complete & udder displeasure 😣. A teammate had told me while we changed after classes into our running gear that I'd not last in wearing them; I did find myself frustrated that I ultimately needed to remove them & carry them delicately, as best as I could, while continuing to run [read: jog] the day's set workout.

I didn't really revisit running, not to that extent anyway, until much later on. (Remember this post & this post?) By then I did need to be wearing my glasses all the time. I practiced while wearing them & I'm sure it had much to do with my simply being older, although also just knowing that I'd need to be wearing them as my eye doctor had encouraged [read: professionally insisted] that I wear them all. the. time.

I needed to be able to allow my eyes to focus without strain & that came with wearing my glasses unless I was showering or sleeping (basically).

I got lucky & found some eyeglass frames which sat -just right- on my face. Because of how great they fit & sat on my face, I kept them around long after they were due to move on.

After running marathons in every sort of unexpected climate (southern states where they had record breaking cold weather, hottest days where water stations had to be added to the course, windy weather where leaves & debris were flying at us at high speeds [the town did have an all-day windy advisory in place], & pouring down rain from an hour or so before the event began until six hours after the starting gun went off) I learned that I didn't need to be wearing my glasses while I ran. If I were to walk, then it'd be a different story. Also, if I were to run/walk. It has to do with my retina & astigmatisms & focusing. While running, I'm "bopping" up & down, & therefore there's really no actual focus where my eyes are straining & therefore being damaged if no eyeglass lenses are sitting in front of them.

If only I'd have known of this while running a few of those marathons. While running the marathon during the wind advisory I'd have been able to skip out & leave them off. Instead the pair I wore I was able to leave at the volunteer table with other participants water bottles. Unfortunately, the volunteers weren't able to keep up with the wind for their task & my glasses blew about & basically broke apart needing manufacturer repair.

While running the marathon during the pouring rain, I wouldn't have spent the entire marathon with my glasses purposefully sitting on the brim of my nose in so that I'd be able to see clearly, & not while having prescription lenses drenched in rain drops (yes, I realize it's figure since eyeglass lenses aren't able to be "drenched"). I've lived & learned.

If I were to need to wear something on my face, & had any difficulty keeping them in place, then any of these would most likely be my best option. For now I'm enjoying being able to run & sweat & not focus on wiping sweat from around plastic or wire frames in so that the sweat wouldn't "intrude" into my eyes creating that much more discomfort. Rather now I'll focus on my running form...that is, on improving it. 😂





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Wearing the Right Shorts

Back in the days when I wore shorts, before I switched to pants (for ease & comfort), & before, as I currently do, where running skirts, I was back there in high school (at cross country practice) awkwardly attempting to wear shorts. They never hung correctly. They were uncomfortable. They, plain & simple, didn't work out for me.

Then junior year happened. A bunch of my teammates were happily & contentedly wearing the same pairs of plaid shorts to run in. Once again I was totally out-of-the-loop on all things "cool" & "in-style". I rolled with it as best I could. I asked my closest friend, who happened to be familiar with the team members wearing these plaid running shorts. (My friend paced with these team mates & so was therefore "nearby" them often throughout daily practices.)

My friend found out about the shorts, though it was still confusing. We learned from which retail store they'd purchased the shorts, & even though Mom & Dad didn't head to the stores all that often, I did mention these "winning" shorts a few times around the house so Mom helped me check out the racks around the store when we had a chance to stop in.

We had no luck. We searched the department high & low. Nothing. Nada.

This is where the joke comes in. When I explained about my shopping fail to my friend I learned that these shorts weren't from our department. The teammates were purchasing these in the smallest size. How was I to know?! I wasn't. I simply wasn't to have a clue. And I didn't.

My friend was a friend to me & went back to that same retailer with me to help me find my way right to the rack of them. The store only had four pairs in stock in the size small enough to fit us. Two were the same shorts. We both picked those, leaving two pairs left on the rack. I only had enough money to buy two pairs & she already owned a pair or two, so she was ready for the register. I picked another from the remaining two options & then I also was ready to head to the register.

I excited wore these shorts for our next practice, a ten mile run down a local main street. When most runners head out to improve their performance, or should I say believe their performance should improve, they typically head out to pick up the best of these. That's apparently not my style 😂; I aim to improve my running technique by purchasing the latest high school teammate fashions. At least I had a I running high for the day (or maybe the week!).

The joke ran on me through the season. I hadn't realized how, well, not-low-key I'd been about getting in on the team training shorts. Our team's annual end-of-season banquet proved this point. It stood as tradition that team's senior class would receive a memorable gift from the rest of the team as led & presented by the team's junior class. The team's senior class would present gag gifts to the rest of the team. This worked the same for both the men's & women's teams; we all practiced together & celebrated together, though the gifts were presented/received accordingly by men's or women's team, not the overall high school. We were all at one big banquet together & watched the presentations of each other's teams.

So when it came time, with me as a junior, to receive my gag gift, there it was. They said something about how I'd been asking about the shorts "all season", & they gifted me with a pair. They weren't a pair to really wear, though the joke remained in tack. When I asked my friend (because I really had thought I'd been subtle), she responded, as kind as she could for us being high school students, that I'd indeed inquired a lot about those plaid shorts.

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The Saturday Morning Run

It must be cross country season as I find myself enjoying another "Saturday Morning Run" & reminiscing about the days of old. Mom & Dad's house was on the Saturday Morning Run route, & so it often got distressing & discouraging to not just stay back at the house as I'd run past it rather than finish out back at the school. I knew the neighborhood streets so I also knew where I could cut out the course as I'd be finishing out so far behind. We never really knew it back then that I needed much more hydration than I was getting. It was commonplace for team members to bring a water bottle (such as a first generation of one of these) & have it ready for when they'd finish up. Sometimes knowing that bottle was sitting back there at the track awaiting my retrieval would be the only thing keeping me from crawling back to the safety & personal feeling of security that my loving bedroom provided me.

I didn't realize that the coaches were paying attention, enough attention to make sure that we were all getting back from being out in the streets. It was high school, after all, & not college, & we weren't yet eighteen year old legal adults. They had a responsibility to our parents that they'd return us to them safe & sound. Besides, the coaches had lived in our neighborhood, one still lives on the same street as my parents, & they know each other. Including having their kids in the same graduating class.

I didn't realize any of the this at the time. All I knew was that I was out running, or at least attempting to (jogging, perhaps? 😏), & I was lagging behind (same old story). I knew the route, the neighborhood, & that I was expected to be a part of the group, which was difficult considering my running abilities didn't match up close enough to the next runners capabilities. My training didn't help me keep up & the other teen girls would have been suffering in their own training had they, well, waited up on me.

Much was likely linked to dietary reasons, as the food I ate wasn't geared toward good workout performance; Mom didn't think of these things when composing our family meal, & desserts, even if simply popsicles (though often scoops of ice cream) were almost always a part of the equation.

Now-a-days I either run laps around where I'd leave a water bottle, or I'd head out with one of these juiced up & ready to take care of me as my run continues on long.


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