Surprise!

Back in June, my two best friends decided that they were going to train to run a half marathon in October. At first, I definitely had my doubts. One of them, Jessie, runs regularly, but I've never known her to run more than a 10k (not that that's anything to take lightly!). The other, Reggie, was a 6'1", 275 lb offensive lineman who had never run beyond what was required for practice. However, they definitely surprised me with their commitment to training, so I decided to surprise them by going to Greenville for the race on Saturday. The race was at 8am, and since I wasn't able to drive up on Friday night, I left Charleston at 4:15am to get there in time. It was SO worth the early wakeup call, though. They were so surprised to see me and very thankful that I was there to support them.

I have never been to any big races before, as I'm clearly not a runner, but the event was really neat. There was a kids' run, a 5k, half marathon, and full marathon. All of the runs started outside the Greenville Drive baseball stadium, and the finish line was right behind home plate. After the start, I went into the stadium to watch runners from the shorter races finish. It was so cool to watch people cross that finish line. There were kids and grandparents, the clearly experienced runners and not-so-experienced walkers, and lots of groups of friends, all of whom were so excited about their accomplishments. And the support from everyone was amazing. Everyone got to the finish line met with applause, cheers, and smiling faces to greet them.

Just before the 2 hour mark, I saw Reggie enter the stadium and come around the field towards the finish line. His goal had been to finish within 2 hours, and he crossed the line in an hour and 58 minutes! He hung around the finish line to meet Jessie when she finished not too much later. I have never been so proud of my friends. I mean seriously... a half marathon... that's amazing. I was so happy I got to be there to see it, and it was a truly inspirational day. Blogger doesn't want to let me add pictures, but you can see my album from the event here.

On the football front, both "my" teams had tough days this week. The Citadel lost at Samford, and I just hate it for the guys. Their next win will be the program's 450th win, and I would love to see them reach that mileston Saturday at home in front of their own fans. Furman lost a tough one at Appalachian State, too. It was close most of the game, and in the 4th quarter the Paladins were within a touchdown. However, App scored one more touchdown, and my Furman boys just couldn't get it done in time. Not a good weekend for me in football, but I'm looking for a pair of wins next Saturday!

A Bittersweet Win

Well, Saturday was the day I'd been waiting for all season... Furman vs. The Citadel. I drove up on Saturday morning in time to tailgate with friends for a while before meeting my parents (diehard Citadel fans) for lunch at the Citadel alumni tailgate. My purple "FU" shirt didn't go over too well, but they were all gracious hosts... and the barbeque was delicious! When I went into the game, I found out that one of my best friends had made a suprise trip to the game during her fall break. She's in grad school in St. Louis, so she doesn't make her way back here often. It was a wondeful surprise!

I knew going into this week that if both teams brought their "A-game" it was going to be anyone's game. This has been especially true in recent years, making for some pretty exciting football. I could tell early on that the bulldogs had not brought their A-game, and the paladins definitely had. Furman had built up a pretty sizeable lead by the 4th quarter, and although they made quite an effort, The Citadel just never caught up. Of course, I was thrilled for a Furman win, especially after last year's crazy game that ended up in a loss for the paladins. However, it really was pretty bittersweet. Because I'm a few years out of Furman and I tutored athletes at The Citadel for a while, I know more Citadel players than Furman players these days. Seeing such disappointment on the bulldog players' faces almost made me wish the game had turned out differently. I always enjoy some good banter/smack talk with Citadel players in the weeks before the game, and I was excited to finally have my bragging rights back... but I can't even bring myself to gloat this time.

Furman moved up to #18 (or #19, depending on which poll you see), and The Citadel is out of the top 25 on all polls. Regardless, the bulldogs have a great team with the potential to finish the season stong, and I look forward to the remaining home games and seeing how the season turns out. Next week Furman is at Appalachian (fresh after an upset... lord help us!), and The Citadel will travel to Samford. I'm taking the weekend off from football, but I do have some top secret plans that should be a lot of fun... more on that next week!

Homecoming!

Let me start off by saying that Furman beat Western this weekend, and The Citadel lost to Elon... but football was really not my top priority this weekend. I did enjoy the Furman game, but I had an absolute blast with my friends at homecoming. I went to dinner with some of my sorority sisters on Friday night, which was wonderful. I felt a little behind the curve since they are all married and one has a baby, but it really was like nothing had changed. Such a good time.

Saturday was a LONG day, as we started tailgating around 10:30am. One of my best friends is a Furman football player, and he and some of the other "retirees" have quite the elaborate tailgating set-up. Furman is not a big tailgating place (technically it's a dry campus, even for tailgating... technically), but these guys had a big tent, grill, and a big tv and satellite dish. We watched the Oklahoma-Texas game and enjoyed a few unauthorized beverages as tons of people stopped by. We did make it inside the stadium for some of the game, and then we tailgated for a while after the game. We were actually some of the last people to leave around 9pm because we were having such a great time catching up. Again, it was like no time had passed since we had all been together. I wish I could be there with them every weekend.

I will actually get to see some of them again this weekend when I go back for the Furman-Citadel game. This is my favorite game of the season every years, and I am so very excited. The last few years have been really close games between these two teams, and I don't think Saturday will be any different. I just hope it's not a down-to-the-wire or overtime game... those stress me out too much! I don't want it to be a blowout for either team, either, so I guess I'm hard to please! Regardless of how the game goes, though, I am sure it will be a good time. I am just ready to get back to Greenville and Paladin Stadium!

Pretty Disappointing Little Saturday

Not a good weekend for my teams. Furman absolutely had their butts handed to them by Elon (31-10), and The Citadel did not fare any better against App State (47-21). I must say, I was more prepared for the Citadel loss than the Furman loss, but I was more impressed with the Bulldogs’ performance. Elon typically has not been a huge contender in the SoCon, but they’ve been surprising the last couple of years. I just wasn’t expecting them to run all over us like this... literally. Furman’s defense could not stop Elon’s run at all, but Elon sure did stop ours! Elon had 231 yards on the ground compared to Furman’s 78. And the turnovers... holy cow, the turnovers were out of control. I feel like every few minutes there was a fumble or interception. That’s not the kind of football I’m used to seeing from a Furman team. I think what disappointed me most was that it was like the team just rolled over and gave up after a while. They didn’t even fight for the win, and that’s disappointing. The Bulldogs, on the other hand, faced a back-to-back-to-back national championship team and fought hard the whole game. They may have been outplayed, but as I watched the game on tv I could see that they were playing with everything they had until it was over. Props to the Citadel team for their effort!

The Bulldogs get the pleasure of taking on Elon this week. Good luck, guys. That is definitely not a team to take lightly! I will have to miss this game because it’s Homecoming at Furman, so I will be in Greenville for my first Furman game of the season and I couldn’t be any more excited! While it’s nice to be able to just walk down the street on Saturdays and see The Citadel play, I have missed my boys in purple. In the words of former Furman President Dr. John E. Johns, “FU ALL THE TIME!”