Friday, February 23, 2007
~ 10:13 PM ~
First day of school after chinese new year holiday is vjc's cross country.. JC cross country feels very much different from secondary school cross country.. It just seemed like everyone in VJC is so fit and capable of running continuously for 3.3km as everyone speeds off at the sound of the beep. It's like a mad rush out of the school gate, over the bridge and along the stretch of road in east coast park that seems so familiar to all victorians. Of course there are exceptions of those who rather stroll all the way, being the non-competitve type. As much as i would like to join them, it is inevitable that us college reps have a certain target to meet, or at least for those under ms lim. i.e. top 150 positions. (sounds easy?..but not quite. it's especially hard for the guys who have maniac runners who are capable of record breaking.) Given such a target, we can call it self challenge to come in top 100 positions. (though ms lim thinks i could have been a cross runner and expects top 20?!)..
If i were back in the good old days when competition was less stiff, it would have been easy to clinch a medal . Sadly, the prize for top 20 was considered miserly in the past not at all comparable with all the nike and adidas sponsored things~ Positons 1-20 in the past were all medals, yet... in VJC the champion gets a medal, a gigantic trophy and many other nice stuff that allows us to look on with admiration. And then the lucky draw... Gosh how much we are vying for the female sports jacket sponsored by nike or adidas. Why can't they sponsor more of that instead of socks? -.- Not that my number would be called, but at least we get the adrenaline rush while anticipating the lucky draw number.
It's stressful because it feels different when everyone suddenly becomes competitive. We are all so used to the uncompetitive attitude displayed by the andersonians in the past (except for a few of course) that when victorians show enthusiasium in running, we fear. We fear to disappoint people and not meet our only designated targets. But if we do our best, then that's the furthest we can stretch ourselves i guess. Yet, it's even more pressurizing to see all the x people warming up on the tracks early in the morning when people are still half asleep. Heard from melissa that everyone from the cross country team has to report at 7am because the v strict mr tan wants them there. High expectation ya know?.. How can we be comparable -.-
Being our first year here, i had no idea that there wasn't going to be assembly and mass work-out as a school before flag off, as it was a norm at anderson to have warm up together. Therefore, before i knew it, everyone whizzed off without me having stretched. oh well.. we just know the consequences of that.. and therefore, after turning back right outside the school gate i had to stop -.- that's dumb i know but you can't move when your legs refuse to budge can you?..
Overall, i guess i should be satisfied with 52th place. At least i met my own target.
