This weekend was out Senior Retreat!! It was amazing. Got to bond and relax for awhile.  Except, since I was gone, I have not had a lot of time to work on my senior project! For this week,  I plan to talk to Mr. Tucker some more, and go into more depth about my plans for the team. I wanna talk more about the Track Race I am having in March and get his advice. I mentioned the idea to him, and he seemed to really like it.  I got to talk to him a little bit over the retreat about his experiences on his Track Team in highschool.  It was pretty great and interesting. Through talking to him, I discovered the the longest race in Track is only 2 miles! I thought it was 3.1 miles, like in Cross Country, but it is not. That should make all the girls who are particiapating in Track very happy! I also was able to research my paper topic some more. I'm getting pretty excited about my topic. I'm just not very excitied about the writing part. I take a long time to write papers, so I need to get started working on it very soon! Hopefully sometime this weekend! I'll tell you how it goes!

Research Paper

This week, I turned in my thesis statement and resources for research paper, to Mrs. Zion. I didnt do as well on it as I was hoping. I wasnt really sure what we were exactly supposed to do or how to write my thesis.

A few days ago, I changed my research paper topic, before I turned it in. I didnt feel like others liked my original idea, because it was too broad, so i changed it.

My original topic: To discuss the pros and cons of running, specifcally how it effects the joints. Does running really effect the joints that much? Is the elliptical and other workouts better than running? Is runnig really that healthy for you?
My view- Running is the best excercise in the world. The benefits of running outweight the small stress added to the joints through running.

My new topic: To discuss the pros and cons of running barefoot, specifically how it reduces the stress on bones, joints, and muscles.  Is it really better to run barefoot?
My view- Running barefoot is better then running with tennis shoes.

I think I like my new topic much better, because it will be easier to write about...but I feel like I didnt have enough time to research it enough, in order to give a good thesis.  Better continue to research some more!

Week of Proposals

So my proposal was this week! I was super freakout out about it, and was dreading it. Mostly because I was one of the last to present in my grade...but it was actually awesome! I was expecting it to be super nerve racking, but it was super helpful. I found it very easy to tell and talk to the board about my project idea. I got a lot of great feed back and advice. A few of these things are...

• Budget set up- Find the estimated cost of running uniforms and track rental. (Shouldnt be too much)
• Meet with Mrs. Tewksberry, and Coach Tucker again (the track coach)
• Paperwork that must be taken care of in order to have a race at OPS
• Change the Race date to March (Maybe have sprint races instead of 3.1 miles)
• Get the money from the racers upfront in order to guarantee participants
• Norrow down my reasearch paper idea. (Effect running has on joints)

There was a lot of great advice! I'm getting more and more excited about my project now!!

Sickness!

I'm pretty frustrated at the moment! I finally had the oppurtunity on Wednesday to schedule a time with Mr. Hinds to talk to him about my project, but then I had to go and get sick!! I was supposed to talk to him today during 3rd period to get approval and advice, but I was sick all day today, making me incapable of talking to him. I'm really hoping I will not be sick tomorrow too. I'm really excited to hear his advice, and see what  suggestions he has for me.

Another part of my agenda is to find a coach! Thats a very key and important part of my project. I have many people in mind, including the current coach of the Oakbrook Cross Country team, Mr. Tucker.  After I talk to Mr. Hinds (hopefully tomorrow!) I wanna see if I can talk to Mr Tucker. (maybe at running practice after school)  He may or may not be interested in coaching two running teams in one year. If he isn't interested, there are some lower school teachers who may be interested.

So my plan for the Track season is for us to start training in the Winter, so we can be fully prepared by the time the season starts in the Spring. Probably starting off with short practices once or twice a week, growing into more later.  The practices will vary in distance, but most likely ranging between 1-2 miles, and sprint training. My hopes are for us to run against the majority of the same teams we compete again in Cross Country.  Private schools such as SCA, Day School, St. Josephs, Veritas, and maybe even a few public schools, such as Dorman.

2nd Blog

Hello! This is my official second blog! Yay! This week, I have not been able to do much with my project. In class, we practiced our proposals which was pretty intimidating. I do not think I did a very good job, but my teachers and classmates gave me a lot of good suggestions! I think it helped a lot. I cant wait to get started on the suggestions! I know now I need to go and talk to Ms. Tewksberry and Mr. Hinds about my project in order for it to get approval. I also need to be on the look out for a coach! I better get started!