WW, Conference and crazy people at Ripon

Hey everyone! I just wanted to say hi and post this fabulous picture so EVERYONE can see it. This accurately represents dinner time during good ole W in the W. I think Anna and I were feeding each other coleslaw with our hands and apparently Leah and I were making out hardcore (which neither of us remember). At this point we lost Marta and Ally to Poetzl and were soon too loose all but myself, Ellen, Anne and Emily. Leah almost made it but we sadly left her on the lawn in front of FACS and proceeded to trample into the library with one more hope of sabotaging the guy's map hole only to find empty beer cans and a dirty magazine. Apparently the guys have a hilarious story about a bum named Eckburg who drank 6 of their beers at Jesus Christ Superfort and jumped into the creek never to be seen again (or see again for that matter because he "lost his glasses somewhere that night" and still denies ever beeing at JC Superfort). The night ended at Poetzl's, mud-covered and smelling delightful and yet I still managed to lick Anthony's face. Eww... Yeah, and fuck the guys for this superiority bullshit. I train with those bastards and am nowhere near inferior as they feel my ponytail hit them in the face as I run past.

As for Conference, its coming up and we're looking studly. I'm really excited about all the work everyone's been putting in and I'm sure we'll be happy to get some great PRs and hopefully some bling as well. My mom and aunt are coming for both days and I'm really excited about that! Its the first time my mom's been to Beloit or seen me run in 4 years so that will be exciting. I'm foreseeing a 1500, steeplechase and a tired 5K to wrap it up. Probably not the 10K again, that was brutal enough the first and only time!

Ellen and I visited the Ripon team this past weekend (with Jared and Anthony- an annual visit. If some of you remember, Aaron, Anthony and Eric Wright broke shit on their campus last year around this time). Let me just say they are an interesting bunch. Possibly more quarky and loud than our own group, if that is at all possible. It was an experience. We pretty much did the same things we do in Beloit, except on the Ripon campus (which is actually very beautiful). Anthony's mom, Kathy was also a delight. That woman has many words of wisdom as well as amazing little Anthony stories. I'll have to share some with you another time. One sneak peak: at a relatively young age, little Manthony was taught to cut with a real knife. Unfortunately, Kathy couldn't get him to put the thing down and the went around for the following weeks cutting up everything in the house... the sofa, the walls and the wooden door frames. A little nightmare.

I hope everyone is wonderful. I love and miss you all. Be safe and keep truckin!
Love, Hammer