a day of firsts

I'm not a runner. Never have been. And I've always been tempted to say I never will be. Two of my closest friends have run marathons, and my dad always coaxes me into a few jogs when I'm home. But I've never felt the urge to just run for the heck of it. Running during soccer is totally legitimate (although I loved playing indoor because there seems to be less space in which to run), and I've never been opposed to the occasional mile or two on the treadmill at the gym. But this week, the bottom dropped out -- I ran a total of 4.5 miles on Tuesday and 5 miles this morning. And it wasn't so bad. Well, I take it back. The first two miles stink, but after that, you just get in the "groove" as Janet calls it, and you feel like you could go on for, well, another 3 miles. I've been talked into training for a half marathon with Janet and her boyfriend Steve. So I've got another month to bump that 5 miles up to 13.1. Piece of cake.

The weapon of choice

I also attended my first Duke basketball game at the Cameron Indoor Stadium, home of the Cameron Crazies. Seriously, these guys are nuts. With the exception of half time, they never sit down. They have some pretty riotous chants -- "Go to he[ck] Carolina! Go to he[ck]!" which they apparently don't just yell during the legendary Duke vs UNC games. Rumor has it the "airball" chant got its start at Cameron. The atmosphere is amazing, though. The 'stadium' only seats 1,500 (compared to the Marriot Center's 22,700 capacity), and students would give up life and limb to get tickets to the Duke/UNC game. They almost do, actually. The undergrads live in tents in Krzyzewskiville for up to 3 months before the game just for one of the coveted tickets. Think Golden ticket from Willy Wonka, but even crazier.


And my other favorite chant of the night was "Crazy Towel Guy". He is perhaps the only basketball fan in the country to have his own cheer. He's been to every home game for the last 20 years and always sits in the exact same place, waving around a towel to incite the fans to cheer at higher decibels, if that's even possible.

Crazy Towel Guy

Go devils, go! And also, go Cougs!