Hanover Cross Country - Running to the Magic Kingdom
It isn't only academics that take Hanover students away from campus. Read freshman Shawna McLetchie's (Lexington, Ky.) blog about the Panthers' trip to the Wide World of Sports complex at Disney World for a cross-country meet.
October 4, 2007 
So I'm finally here at Disney World with Hanover Cross Country team. We've been looking forward to this all season and I can't wait for the meet and the parks and restaurants. We took a plane down here today and I'm not much of a flyer but the plane ride was fine. Some of the team listened to music and did homework, especially since we're missing a day and a half of class. The trip is totally worth it though. Disney World or class? I pick Disney World! When we got here, our team split up and went to Downtown Disney to eat dinner because we were super hungry after our three-hour plane ride. It was fun seeing all the Disney characters around that I haven't seen since I was really little. I can't wait for tomorrow when we get to see the course! I heard that it was really flat and we'll get super fast times.
October 5, 2007 | 10:26 pm
We went to the course early this afternoon to run there. I really like it, there are zero hills and almost a mile of the course is in a wooded area. It's been very rainy today so the ground was really muddy. We are going to be so dirty tomorrow when we race. It will be awesome...we'll look like hardcore cross-country runners! It's also going to be a really big meet; there were fifty boxes at the start. There will be some Division I and Division II schools there too. I'm super excited for the meet. We took the bus back to the hotel and some of us jumped in the pool. I did some homework afterwards, though boring; I still have to catch up for missing two days of class. At 7:00 tonight, we had our team meeting on strategies for the course and ate at Papa Johns. After dinner, a bunch of us decided to go to The Boardwalk. We did a little shopping and we rode a ferry. I love being with the team. The guys are really funny and the girls are super sweet. I laugh so much when I'm with them; they probably think I'm a giggle-box.
I can't wait until tomorrow morning! Everyone could get their PR on this race…I'm hoping for sub-21! I've wanted to break 21 minutes for three years! Tomorrow is going to be it. We run super early; the guys at 8:15 a.m., the girls at 8:55 a.m. After that, we have the whole day to ourselves to go the Disney World parks!
October 6, 2007
Today was a very very full day. The girls woke up early in the morning and I didn't get back tonight until midnight. The meet was super fun! The guys ran first. I am so jealous that they got to run in the rain. It rained heavily on and off during their race. The temperature was perfect today, too; we couldn't have asked for better weather. Unfortunately, the rain stopped as soon as it was the girls' turn to race. It would have been really awesome if we had to run against the rain. I was really nervous this morning because I want to beat 21 minutes. The course is really flat and I had been hoping for that for a long time. But I definitely ran 21:20. It is a disappointment but that race was one of the most fun races that I have ever run. We ran on so many different surfaces: sand, mud, turf, track, water. We ran through a mile's length of slosh that smelled like sewage. There were foot deep puddles and many runners fell into them. After we were done, we were really nasty. It was amazing! I wish I could do it again.
It was really difficult to find a way home to the hotel after the meet because the buses didn't come to the stops very often. But eventually we took a cab. It was finally time for Disney World!!! I'm a wimp because I hate roller coasters….like really petrified of them. That is why I was a little hesitant to go…but I went anyway because how often do you get to see Cinderella? Most of the cross-country team went to Magic Kingdom. We traveled together as usual on the buses. And oh my gosh, we were at Disney World Magic Kingdom! We took pictures by the big castle and then, of course, the first ride everyone wanted to go on was Space Mountain, a roller coaster. I was nervous as usual but it ended up being so much fun! It was an indoor roller coaster so it didn't have any big loops nor did it go down that much. It was actually kind of a kiddy roller coaster. I screamed anyway. After that, we went on a bunch of different rides. They were all like little kid rides and I thought that was funny to do with a bunch of college kids. But it was a lot more fun than I expected. I felt like I was seven again. Some of us went to see Cinderella, Belle and Sleeping Beauty and it was really funny when the guys took their pictures with the princesses.
Later tonight, four of us went to International Drive where we ate Mexican food. It was nice, eating food much different from Hanover's cafeteria. We just got back from that...and it's now almost midnight. I'm pooped and satisfied and am really bummed we have to go back home tomorrow. It has been so much fun!
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Sunday, October 07, 2007
I'm now in the airport, waiting with the team to go back to Hanover. I'm really sad to go back. I have to hit the books now and study.
