by Caciques Arbin and Lizzy

Today started off strong at 6:30 in the morning with our second official timed run-swim of the semester! For those who don’t know about run-swims, they are pretty much what they sound like: a mixture of running and swimming. As I heard the horn go off, signaling the beginning of the run-swim, I threw myself in the water and began freestyling the first swimming cut. I was ready to shave a few minutes off my time, and was willing to push myself past my limits. With each running cut, my legs began to think for my body. Although my head was telling me to slow down, I remembered back to when I was doing the four-mile run with Justin Symington many weeks ago. I was at the three mile mark and ready to stop. He was running by my side and told me, “This is all in your head; if you needed to keep going, your body could sustain this pace for hours.” His advice helped me to suppress my mental limits and focus on pushing my self past what I previously thought was possible. The push paid off and I ended up finishing three minutes faster than my previous time. In fact, most people were improve their performance, including Austin Frank (my fellow Bostonian),who broke the course record with a stellar time of 14:26. I admire him not only for his ability to endure through his previous mental limits, but also for the work that he has been putting towards improving his time. Every exploration time he does a practice run-swim along with a few others to improve his time. Congrats Austin, your work paid off! -Lizzy

Unlike Lizzie’s day, I was glad to have time to relax my sore muscles. The veil of excitement had lifted and I grew anxious for my upcoming run-swim. I was able to put my anxiety aside, however, and began to prepare for my impending cacique pass-off. Pulling on my bed sheet toga over my clothes and stepping into the circular arena, I convened the student body. Calling Tony to kneel before me, I sired him into his Cacique position with my wooden sword. Although no one could stop laughing at my Kingly accent, everyone understood what was going on. Looking around at the amused faces, I felt the students and faculty grow into a closer, more spirited community. -Arbin