On Tuesday April 10, 2012 the Red Flash got word that their head coach Gordon Thomson had resigned. The overall news hit the hearts of many Red Flash athletes, but we knew as a team we'd have to come together under the new leadership of Coach Tamara Burns. There was some turmoil as to who was going to travel to West Point and what distance runners were going to travel to Bucknell but by Friday everyone knew where they were going to compete. I was put on the travel list for West Point so this blog is a recap of our wonderful trip to the United States Military Academy at West Point.

The bus was due to depart at 12:30 p.m. on Friday April 13. I'm not sure if many Red Flash athletes realized the coincidence but we were going to be on a bus for six hours on Friday the 13^th. I personally would rather walk under 100 ladders or have a black cat named walk by me than be on a bus on Friday the 13^th.

We loaded up the bus and were ready to depart when Coach Burns arrived with the greatest sight Red Flash athletes have ever seen; animal crackers. Who knew that little bags of animal crackers could excite an entire team for an entire weekend? As the Red Flash athletes were busy conversing about the animal crackers Coach Burns also brought apples, oranges, fruit snacks, normal sized Gatorades, water and other goodies onto the bus. This was a nice treat since normally we received unfrosted pop tarts, small Gatorades and fruit granola bars. To our surprise an hour or two into our bus ride Coach Burns put in a movie. For the first time since I can remember the movie did not have to be in the American Film Institute's Top 100 of all time. For the next 90 minutes the Red Flash watched a classic; Ace Ventura Pet Detective. Once that movie ended, something else amazing happened, Coach Burns put in another movie! The next movie, The Proposal, captured the hearts of many, and left many fighting back the tears.

Soon after the Red Flash arrived in a brand new hotel and promptly left for dinner at Chili's. Ryan Dubois summed up the dinner by saying “I have the biggest food baby and I'm about to go into a massive food coma.” After dinner most people started to take ice baths and once again by the time I tried to take one the entire four-story hotel was out of ice. I walked to every floor trying to find the elusive ice.

The next morning the Red Flash athletes were treated to the best breakfast anyone could ever ask for. I personally was very upset that there were no Cruncheroos, but I managed somehow. Once we made it to West Point, the Red Flash followed our fearless leader Coach Burns onto the track. For the next five hours the Red Flash athletes competed to the best of their abilities. Many runner and almost all of the throwers ran personal bests. Brittney Johnson ran a very nice 400m after being injured for quite some time. Also during Katie Cianci (Greenville, Pa./Kennedy Catholic)'s 5k we discovered that Rebecca Webster (Lithia, Fla./Newsome) does not believe in using watches with split buttons, so she decided to take the splits manually. From what I have heard, this did not work out very well. Not to worry though, next week at Bucknell, I'm sure someone can teach her how to work the split button.  

As the Red Flash loaded up the bus to head home, nothing bad had happened yet and I was feeling confident everyone would make it home unharmed. About two hours into the ride home Gary, the bus driver, stopped at the Old Country Buffet for dinner.

Just when I thought we were in the clear, we experienced an unfortunate turn of events as the bus scrapped a street sign. Just then we heard a loud pop as the window shattered, spraying glass everywhere and all over TC, Nicki and Alexis. For some reason all I could think about was Friday the 13^th and this being the 100^th anniversary of the Titanic sinking. Just as the Titanic scrapped the side of an ice burg, we scrapped the side of a street sign. Everyone knows that after the Titanic hit the iceberg all was lot so I waited impatiently for someone to start singing the theme song to Titanic to signal our impending doom, but thankfully that never happened. Despite Nicki, TC and Alexis having glass all over them, in their hair, on their seats, the biggest tragedy was TC's pillow pet having glass all over it.

Once everyone settled down from our little accident, Coach Burns put in Rush Hour as most of the bus tried to sleep. For some reason though Terry had excess amounts of Red Bull with him and talked the entire ride home. Some athletes begged Ryan DuBois (Wayne, N.J./DePaul Catholic) to drink a Red Bull just so Terry would have one less. Throughout most of these events Nicki Leach managed to find a very awkward position to sleep in. Even Ryan DuBois (Wayne, N.J./DePaul Catholic), last week's awkward sleeper, was amazed at not only how Nicki got herself into that position but how she slept soundly for several hours. Finally the Red Flash returned home around midnight which was a nice surprise. TC was very upset that she had to wash her pillow pet since it had glass all over it but to her surprise it grew to three times its normal size in the dryer, making it the fluffiest pillow pet you will ever see. The Red Flash Track Team saga continues next week when they travel to Bucknell for the Bison Open.