The Rest of Illinois

There's an image of Chicago's skyline and vast cornfields on the stateline between Beloit, WI and South Beloit, IL that has always left me a little befuddled. (I found the above on Google Images-- same deal although not from our particular stateline-- although the dapper gentleman posting at the bottom is a nice touch for the blog.) When my friends from the midwest told me that Chicago and corn is all there is to Illinois and that this state-produced rendering was spot on, I was skeptical. They weren't kidding.

On Friday morning, the cross country team took off from Jacksonville, IL for the NCAA Division 3 Conference. Two long days later, I feel like I've been on a second fall break. While we fared fourth in the standings (the men tied for sixth), the trip was a nice break from the weight of the brick wall that fell on me upon my return.The workload around here is really warping up and for those of us who won't be going to Regionals, our brains are back on the library shelves. Focusing on Conference was a nice distraction from the stress of school, but with that past us, there was no dawdling at brunch this morning. On a more exciting front: down in Illinois, Allie Hood '08 took my camera around while cheering on the guys. She got some great shots, but as with most pictures from races, everyone either appears to be in extreme pain (fair enough) or half out of their uniform (again, fair enough). In the name of dignity, I think we're all comfortable sharing these few shots:

Above: Men at the starting line-- they're the guys in blue and white with the poorly dyed hair.

Women's Top 20: In the back row on the far right you can find Shelley Quade '09. Amanda Hammermeister '08 is the fourth in from the left on the bottom row.

Left to Right: Heather "Rocks Well" Rockwell '08, Karen Baumann '10 and JuliaBeloit '10 post-race on Saturday morning.

It has been a great season and I'm leaving it feeling healthy and pale as only those who live this far north of the Mason-Dixon Line can. I'm nervous about fitting running into life abroad, but I'm sure going to miss having 20 other girls elbowing me around the Turtle Creek Flood Plane. I'd better go work on my visa application, or I will get to run with the pack for track season after all!