Smelling the Roses

At Columbia, "The Steps" are similar to "The Quad" at most colleges, or "The Gorges" at Cornell (possibly too soon for that one). It is a place people gather for a shared experience. Because I am a second-semester senior whose most irritating responsibility is to put on pants, I spend a lot of time on The Steps. In fact, if it continues being this beautiful, my time out in the Sun will make my complexion look like I attempted to pull off a Richard Pryor drug experience.

Anyway, the girls wear sundresses, the guys go shirtless, and our little campus in NYC really becomes a happy community. Yesterday, while sitting on the steps around 8:30, enjoying a cold beverage with friends, a Christian chorus sat behind us and began singing hymns. Aside from putting our lighters in the air for the Lord, it was a really amazing experience. Nothing summarizes college quite like going to the steps with a book (currently "Team of Rivals"--with my newly rekindled love for Abraham Lincoln and passionate admiration of Barack, the only way this book could be better is if it had a section of time-travel slash fiction), sitting down with the book on my lap, and getting through a single page before friends gather around.

Aside from that, training has been outstanding leading up to Nationals on April 24th. Yesterday morning I completed my final super-intense brick workout before the big day, with a 2h30min hard bike in Central Park (for those that know CP, 4 hardest laps in just under an hour) followed by an hour run (a friend described my running outfit as 'aggressively shirtless'--considering it was tri shorts and sunglasses, that is very accurate). I feel good; I am ready to go. I will talk about it more in the next couple weeks, but a quality performance in Richmond could hopefully lead to a top-5 finish. Which is good, because LADIES CANNOT RESIST THE BODIES OF OBSCURE ENDURANCE ATHLETES. My Nationals-ready physique makes me look like an extra in "Nightmare Before Christmas".


Enjoying a hard cider out on the steps after that workout, one thing is certain--life is amazing. I really didn't want to make this one of my serious, sentimental posts (see left sidebar for dick-joke free zone!), but sometimes it is really great to take a step back and appreciate just being alive. I wouldn't be surprised if 40 years from now, this particular moment in time will emerge nostalgically from my subconscious---by appreciating every second while it happens, I hope that nostalgia will manifest itself in a content smile rather than a wistful regret.