One Bean of a Team

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BEANS. 

We have this really funny story about how beans are our new thing on the girls cross country team, but I won't waste the time telling it. You wouldn't think it was funny. It was one of those times that you just had to be there.

But anyways, "Emily Lord is beans!" -Maggie Layer

And that's where it all began. 

If you look at any social media page of one of our runners, it mostly involves running and doing things with other people on the team. You probably think we get sick of each other, but we don't. Not even after camp. We are better than friends, better than family, we are beans. We should be allowed to edit the definition of bean in the dictionary.

Some combination of us are together every day. We get into some of the silliest situations possible, and we don't even know how. There's never a dull moment!  That's what I love about these girls. We have so much fun, and we never have to worry about it being something that can get us in trouble or make us feel guilty. We're always looking out for each other and keeping each other accountable and honest. We can speak the truth to each other without being offended.

I love to do destination runs, so I got up a whole group one evening in July to do a two-a-day to dinner and dessert!  We started and finished at Bonangles, running for 30 minutes wherever we chose. This led to some interesting places...including inside Food City. Don't ask me. That wasn't my group!

We took some silly group selfies before heading out.

After eating a winner of a chicken dinner, we went next door to TCBY for some dessert!  I had a coupon to get 20% off if you come with your team in uniform, so all the girls wore our tye die tanks that we made before camp.

Katlyn and the crew in her car are always jammin, and it spread through the parking lot. I joined the jam and got featured on another girl's snapchat story!

They love my frozen yogurt enthusiasm. It's a special treat, so I make it worth it.

 

 

Zails and I love our TCBY.

The girls also find it amusing when I send them a snapchat every time I eat beans. Another thing you would see if you looked at our social media stats, we are all each other's snapchat best friends and some of us have some really long streaks!

Yeah I love my beans as in teammates, but I have also been eating some sort of real bean almost every day. They taste so good, and there are so many varieties!  You can fix beans with basically everything. They are also super healthy. Mom is all for beans, too, considering the protein and iron content. 

Another yearly team thing..the car wash..we dread it and we love it at the same time.  This year I was a little more motivated for it considering the weather was beautiful and I never have to do it again.  We girls always have fun making signs.  This picture was our social media advertisement.

It also helped get me ready to spend most of my day at Advanced Auto thanks to a run with Chantal and Cherie at the park before they left for college the next week followed by a destination run to the car wash with Danny!  We even matched and didn't plan it!

Abby's car wash signs were my favorite.  She's so artistic!

Human car dryers.  At least they were having fun with it!

This isn't beans, but my girls know how amazing my dad's spaghetti is.  Just thought it would be another good thing to share.

Yeah, we ran in that.  It poured, the thunder roared, lightning struck and shook the ground while we were out in the middle of the woods with nowhere to go.  Katlyn, Maggie, Jessica, and I screamed and sprinted at a couple of those instances as adreneline pushed us to run for our lives.   It was quite a run.  Just another crazy thing for most that we consider normal.

This is Julia, one of the freshman on our team this year!  We share a lot of the same loves, like ice cream, barbeque, Sub Debs, the lake, beach, farms, goats, cows, etc.  I drive her to practice about every day, too!  One day, we spent all evening running (literally) back and forth across town!  It started out from school to practice, Buddy's BBQ for dinner, TCBY for dessert, then finally to a friend's house for a sub deb meeting! 

My obsession with color coordination strikes again.

We call this "Double Trouble." 

Two girls, two plates each. 

This year I have become especially close to one of my other seniors and captains, Emily.  We share so many of the same things in life, it is crazy!  We each have our unique struggles, but we relate so much, you know God gave us each other.  We even have almost the exact same class schedule this semester, too.  Both first periods are dual-enrollment, second period peer tutoring an Algebra II class, then we are in the same finite math class with Mr. Hayes, lunch, then yearbook, and obviously cross country.  We also have lots of doctor's appointments and health issues and frustrations, but are on the track to being beastly beans this season!  Most importantly, we share the same God to get us through it all.

The annual Waterville run and picnic was the best one for my senior year!  A huge group of girls came, and we had a blast.

God sent me Ecclesiastes 7:8 the morning of the picnic to remind me that even when these long days come, this is where I am, and this is where He wants me to be.  "The end of a matter is better than the beginning, and patience is better than pride."  Like the tiny inchworm, who takes such small scrunches, we have to make the most of every step to live the life God has called us to.  When we make the focus on finding joy in the journey and in Jesus, we don't even have to focus on finding it; it just comes.

When you have to sign papers in front of an official, but you're in the middle of the mountains, your head becomes a table.

This is a real table, not my head!

Guess what!  We ate beans together this day. We're pretty good at cramming way too many people at one table.

Totally different kind of bean than what we usually refer to, but hey it's a bean!  Lots of the girls love jelly beans. I don't, but I do love pancakes and maple syrup, so this photo was taken in honor of my beans. 

Another thing a couple of us decided to do at camp was create a club.  It's a fun club.  I'm the secretary, so I created our Twitter page.  Feel free to follow for lots of f's including but not limited to:  faith, fun, food, fitness, farts, fails, fruit, and more!

Somehow, this picture from freshman year came to my mind last night when I woke up around 3:00 to go to the bathroom.  

Great things come to me when I sleep.

Little did Emily and I know that these snapchats would come back to be so relevant.  Check out the top right.

 We also like to make puns.  We like having Emily and Jessica with us so we can always say we have the Lord/s with us.  He/They is/are also good, and provide.  Like on this day, poor Katlyn, the walking struggle, had no hairband, but Jessica came to the resuce.

 If you didn't hear about our crazy weekend of the Eye Opener meet, shew you missed it.  We're blessed to be alive.  Basically everything that could've gone wrong did, and we still came out with a 2nd place finish at the race!  Even in the middle of so many stressful things happening, we still sat in Olive Garden for dinner at 8-9 pm laughing until we couldn't breathe and were in tears.

 Emily and Elizabeth are dessert buddies, and now it is pumpkin cheesecake time at the OG!
Megan put this lovely photo of me on her snapchat story.
Oh, there were lots of beans in the minestrone soup.

 Table squads 1 and 2.

 This is our pinata James Marshall Marie.

 After being in an interstate accident, late dinner, lost to the hotel, losing a kid, waking up late, the hotel not having breakfast, getting to the course with 40 minutes before the race, we came out with some hardware.  However, we couldn't have done it without the grace, protection, and provision of the Lord.  We all seemed to have a bit of peace in the midst of it all.  These things were totally out of our control, so they were totally in God's control.  Being there and being strong is our testimony.

 "A friend loves at all times, and a sister was born for adversity."  Proverbs 17:17

 

(Outdoor) Track is in Session

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This track season, I must say, was more successful for our team than last year!  We had so much dedication and opportunities to get together and have a lot of fun!  Here's some highlights as we got things started this season.

After our first meet, which was a Tuesday home meet, we did a fun run the next day for practice, ending at TCBY!  A great big thanks to Mrs. Bowen for the idea and helping us work everything out so we could do this!  I can't wait for another opportunity to do a destination run with my gang again this summer!

Here we are during our first Saturday meet!  These were the girls on the two 4x800 teams we had.  As you can see, we like to do a "good" picture and a "goofy" one.

For a week or so, this was the side banner on the Tennessee Milesplit website, advertising one of the biggest meets around here, the Tri-Cities Track Classic at Science Hill, aka my favorite track!  I was so excited to see myself on there because that was a total surprise!  Adam, of course, was the boy they chose, because he dominates almost eveything around here.

Yet another picture with two versions.  We are the distance crew, and this is what we do. 

**Photo credits on all 3 of these:  GBo.

The start of track season is kinda rough, because it never really gets warm until the very end!  And I am not a cold weather person at all!  I tried to make the most of these practices by having fun with my outfit.  Color coorination is my thing.  I was also super excited to wear this hat!

Nasty November

To start things off, here's a funny video of a high school cross country team that recorded a parody of the song "Fancy."  Even though it is high schoolers, it looks pretty fancy!  No pun intended.

Another random insert:  This is an old post from before there was snow on the ground for this season, but I like goats and I like Colorado skiing!  One blog for a resort that I follow, ABasin, has lots of goats, and they even post about them sometimes.

This month has had some crazy and nasty weather, which has made some days very discouraging!  But of course there are always smiles to go around town!  You just have to have that attitude about it!  This month seems to have gone by just as fast and been just as busy as October was!  Just colder.  And wetter.

Practices during this month were rough...the weather was pretty much all cold and nasty, hence the title "Nasty November."  We had one week that Farmer told us to only cross train after state, which was not too exciting for me since we still had a race left, but I did it anyways.  After that, though, we were back on the trails, leaves, mud, and all.

After going to Hobby Lobby, mom took me by Sweet CeCe's to use a gift card my grandmother gave me. I haven't had froyo in a while, and this was amazing!  I'm talking heaven in my mouth!  I tried mint with Andes mints, chocolate caramel turtle with Resee's Pieces in the little cup, then in the big one I had egg nog and pumpkin pie with cheesecake chunks and cereal!

This was inspired by Jenna, my Sunday school class college leader. When you mis your face soap with baking soda, it makes a mask!  My face felt quite refreshed afterwards. 

Hobby Lobby could entertain me for hours during the holidays!  Mom and I went the Tuesday night after we got out of school for Thanksgiving to do some Christmas shopping. 

Wednesday morning was the first day of break, yet I still had to get up earlier than I had been. Farmer wanted to have practice early so we could have the rest of break to do what we needed to. 

Every Wednesday morning that we have Bible study, I always head a couple streets over in my neighborhood to pick up Megan!

Marshmallow is my favorite!  Well, I have lots of favorites, but anything marshmallow catches my eye, especially scents and tastes.  I was hooked after the first time I ate marshmallow frozen yogurt.  I have never gotten to try TCBY's yet, but I am determined that I will one day.  I think it's too late for this year, out of season, but it's eggnog time now!  I love those, too!  I've gotten to try the Silk Nog at TCBY and the Eggnog at Sweet CeCe's now, too!  Like eating a cloud...(as I go back to edit this, I can now say that I have gotten to try the marshmallow!  YUM!)

Because of post season races, we have had to change our Christmas decorating plans.  We always used to spend all day the Friday after Thanksgiving and some of the weekend decorating the house!  Now we aren't home at that time, so

I've been eating lots of bananas lately.  At least one a day if not more! 

I have been addicted to banana and almond butter quinoa.  I ate it almost every day for two weeks during the end of cross country season!  Cocoa powder makes a great addition, too.

Squash is one of my favorites, so I'm branching out to varieties other than butternut.  Acorn squash is okay, but I think it looks better than it tastes.  Butternut is still my favorite, but spaghetti squash is cool because you can cut it up or string it so easily!  I have fun with my food.

Handheld pencil sharpeners are usually crap, but this one is the best I have ever used!  Thank you Mrs. Porter!

Now that the regular season is over, it's time for the banquet.  We all get to dress up and have a buffet and get all sorts of awards.  Since we never get to eat pasta...sarcasm...the banquet is a pasta buffet.  We got salads, too, and the dessert buffet table was the best of all the gatherings we've had!  Three flavors of pudding, cheesecake, and pies! 

Coach Owens and Burroughs are over there trying to look all cool.

        

 

Me, Katlyn, Maggie, and Ana down one side of the table

Farmer giving his thoughts and feelings

Elizabeth and Abby on my other side!

We're all so goofy!  Especially when it comes to meal time!  We are almost always around a table or something with food when the team gets together.

       

Every year we get to watch a slideshow and video of highlights from the season.  Parts are exciting, sad, sweet, heartwarming, intense, and funny.  The bloopers and terrible face sections are hilarious!  Here we have a road run on the left, me coming in at the end of one rep of a mile loop speed workout, then a prerace chant.

  

Even though it is now December, there still has not been a day to match this low temperature!

 

I am following the RunFurman blog, and enjoy following how they perform throughout the season on instagram, too.  I know some of the runners from camp and racing against Emma last year, but others I just follow on instagram.  Grace Tinkey is one of those!  One of the RunFurman blog features was on getting to know her, and I loved reading about it.  Not only is she one of the top runners out there, I respect her even more for her attitude and spirit for the Lord!

 

One of my favorite starts to the Christmas season:  Operation Christmas Child!  My mom helped me find which age group got the least "attention" and that's what we bought for, the middle age boys.

Post season regionals and nationals started pooping up about every weekend. I am so glad Iive down south!  This was the conditions they day of the Nike Northeast Region. 

I made this bookmark to use during the fall.  No matter what the circumstances, we can choose to be joyful. Joy depends on having Christ, no this world. Joy is also an acronym for Jesus, others, yourself, so that's why it is squared!

Pugs and coffee all in one picture!  When it's cold out (and inside) during the winter and some fall months, I make a cup of coffee last all day to help keep me warm. 

Another thing that is great during cold weather is chili and soup!  This is a heaping bowl of chicken tortilla soup.   I also added some cornbread and extra veggies.

My friends mom have me this gum as a little surprise on day!  It's the little things that bring genuine smiles to faces. Remember that as you go out today!

Our school has been under construction, as is everything else in East Tennessee. This is a painting of our principles on the wall blocking the entrance to where the new freshman academy will be. 

How cute is Woodstock dressed up like a turkey!?

Allie Ostrander is an amazing runner!  She just recently has become big on the stage, because she is from Alaska and never really had any competition. A couple weeks ago, she won the Nike National title. She is also point guard of the basketball team. And tiny, like me!  Milesplit is doing a mini video series on her, and it is very cool to see the sights from where she gets to train!

I was really excited to finally wear these socks that I got at the beach last year. 

The NCAA national championships were just recently, too, and I was looking up how some of my prospective schools were doing. This map divided up te regions for me, because I didn't know who went where. 

Chick-fil-a does awesome Tuff around the holidays!  They made a decoration with fall muffin cups that the staff wrote down things that they were thankful for. They also provide Operation Christmas Child boxes for anyone to pick up and fill to give. 

I love Luna Carrot Cake!  The Larger Cluf version is great, too. I like to use them as dessert. 

I found a new cool protein!  Tiny shrimp!  They are so tiny, they are no bigger than a fingernail!  I was so fascinated. 

Chick-fil-a also has it's downsides. Since they switched to the new coffee, it doesn't quite taste the same, and the cups are crap. They're paper instead of styrofoam, they leak, and they sit have a cover for the hole you drink out of. 

My friend Katlyn sent me this. I need this sticker!

Yes, I live with a stress test, too, my mom. Don't worry, she would say the same about me. 

This is a joke with our family, as my dad is not exactly the most technologically savvy man when it comes to smartphones. Once he tried to take a picture of me and a lady cold basketball player, but kept saying he couldn't see us. He has the lens up to his eye looking the wrong way. 

We had a festive sock day at practice without even planning it!

One morning, we actually got a little snow!

I also finally got to try the apple pie flavored coffee that I got from the Apple Barn last month. It's pretty yummy!  I like to use my hoot hoot mug during the fall. That's also some more almond butter banana honey quinoa!