I MISS SPORTS

If you can't tell, I'm kinda over the COVID. It's crazy to me to think everything was different a year ago and it has been like this since March. I don't know about you guys, but Snapchat memories from a year ago really make me emotional. I was going to soccer and football games, I was able to walk around without a mask and I was allowed to hug all my friends without the fear of getting yelled at to socially distance. 

I haven't been to a sporting event since my basketball game. THAT'S UNREAL. My cousins, who are still in High School, have been able to continue playing football and volleyball and I would be able to watch the livestream, but I missed watching under the lights. 

With football, I got extremely lucky to go see my cousin play Friday. We live in Akron, but the game was in Tiffin. It was under an hour to get there and I got to see my aunt, uncle, grandma and my grandma's friend. I took Chris with me and my family was really excited to him as well. Even though there was thunderstorm and there was an hour rain delay, I was very happy to see my family and watch some football. 

My cousin is the quarterback and he was playing so well. He had to take a year off from football due to a torn shoulder, but he looked confident and a straight baller out on the field. I was so proud of him. The game was close and we were winning for the majority of the game, but the other team came back in the last quarter and we lost 21-28. 

Even though the game didn't end the way we wanted it to, I was able to see some a lot of High School people and it made me realize how much I miss home. I can't wait to go home soon and spend time with my family. I think I have been exhausted and drained from school, so I'm ready to go home for a little bit. 

I can't wait for the spring to come and I'm ready for all the ONU teams to start playing. Please COVID, go away. 

HOMECOMING

Keeping up with the year of lasts, I just participated in my last homecoming ever. I never knew the power of homecoming until a global pandemic hit and took a lot of the activities away. This year, I was nominated to be on homecoming court and it was a huge honor. 

All last week, people would tell me congratulations and it made me realize how amazing Northern students and faculty are and how lucky I am to call this place home. With the COVID craziness, homecoming looked a little different this year. There was no parade, no football game and no in-person events. This was really tough because I would have loved to be a part of the parade and have my family come up for the weekend, but I have to remember this year is different. 

I was partnered with a men's baseball player, so it was a little athlete couple and we got some great photos with Klondike. I was running straight from practice, but I had enough time to shower and put on my face! My roommate let me wear all her clothes and the sun was out. It was a beautiful day for homecoming. 

I know homecoming is a huge deal because normally alumni would come back home and we would all get together to celebrate. Even though it didn't happen this year, I am so thankful and grateful for this school because they try to make it normal and give students an experience they won't forget. 

Although I didn't win queen, I felt so honored to be a part of this court and it is definitely a highlight of my college experience. I can't wait to come back to ONU next year for homecoming and I'm hopeful everything, I mean EVERYTHING, will be back to normal. 

RUN, RUN, RUN

I love running. When I'm happy, I run. When I'm stressed, I run. When I'm sad, I run. When a freaking global pandemic hits, I started running. 

My goal before graduating high school was to run a half marathon. I completed the Towpath Half-Marathon in October of my senior year, so just about four years ago. I wanted to finish under 2 1/2-hour and my overall time was two hours and 22 minutes. It was a great feeling and I felt so accomplished. I ran it with my cousin with my aunt and parents waiting for me at the finish line. 

I went to college and I stopped running as much as I did because basketball was my life. But when the COVID started happening and everyone had to quarantine, I picked up running again. I think it was mostly because I was bored, but it made me realize how much it helped me. 

I have been running consistently for the past seven months and I think it would be really fun to run another race before I graduate college. I did some research and found Toledo has a race in April. There are four options: a 5K, a relay marathon, half-marathon and marathon. 

I would love to register for the marathon, but I'm worried I wouldn't have enough time to train from basketball season. So, here are my thoughts ... I'm going to sign up for the relay marathon and make all my roommates do it with me. 

I created a PowerPoint presentation to persuade my roommates to do it and be in it to win it. I'm still working on the convincing, but I'm hopeful we can do it! If I can't get my roommates to sign up, feel free to reach out to me because I really want to do this.

In all seriousness, I would love to complete another half marathon before I  graduate college and knowing there is an opportunity to do it really makes me happy. 

Paige, if you're reading this ... you're running with me. 

SENIOR YEAR BASKETBALL

And just like that ... it's my last season of basketball. I have been playing basketball for 17 years and I'm entering my last season. It's crazy to think this is the year of lasts but I'm extremely thankful to get to play basketball. With the COVID craziness, I didn't think we would be able to play, so I'm ready.

Every year, the team reads a book and we talk about it before our first practice. This year, the book was called "The Hard Hat" by Jon Gordon. This book is a true story about a selfless, loyal and compassionate leader and teammate, who played lacrosse at Cornell. It identifies 21 ways to be a great teammate and exercises to help build a great team. 

"The Hard Hat" was extremely eye opening for me and helped me realize I don't want to take this year for granted. We got together to talk about what this book means to us and how it is going to help us be a great team. I would recommend this book to anyone because there are so many situations where you are on a team and it is really beneficial to keep the lessons from the book in mind. 

Out of the 21 lessons to be a great teammate, three of them really stuck out to me. 

1. Stay positive and spread contagious energy 

• As a lot of people know, I am really loud and energetic and it makes me so happy to spread my energy on others. I know (at times) it can be a lot, but I love being able to boost the energy in the room. "You can be a germ or a big dose of vitamin C." 

2. Pursue Excellence 

• I'm a perfectionist. I don't like messing up and I don't like failure. I try to pursue excellence in everything I do. The book talked about the one percent rule: try to focus on getting one percent better at something in your life every day and results will show. 

3. Leave the place better than you found it. 

• I think everyone has a calling and a purpose in life and it's so cool to me. The idea of leaving a legacy or leaving your mark really amazes me. I want to impact someone's life by my presence and being a great friend. 

Everyone should buy this book and read it. I promise you will not regret it and it only took a couple of hours!