Jan. 18, 2005
The trip to Arizona started just like any other. I woke up at 7:00 a.m., to get ready for our plane trip to Tucson. I was planning to wear a skirt to warm Arizona, but when I looked out the window of my house I saw that there was two inches of snow on the ground. I had to drop that idea and go with pants instead.
The trip to the airport was good, most people slept or watched a movie. But when we got to the airport we realized that it wasn't going to be a normal trip. Our flight that supposed to leave in the afternoon had been cancelled until 6:00 p.m. Because the bus had already left us at the terminal, we had no way of leaving the St. Louis Airport.
The airline gave us complimentary lunch at Cheers. After sitting around for about an hour after lunch, Rob pulled some strings and got the team into the Admirals Club so we would be more comfortable during our long wait.
When we finally got on our flight everything went pretty smooth, except that they wouldn't let us carry on our rolling, suitcases with all our leotards and grips in them. We were pretty nervous that the bags would not make it on the plane and we would wind up in Tucson without our equipment.
After 17 hours of traveling, we finally arrived. As a transfer form Arizona State it was rather emotional being in Arizona again. The weather and scenery brought back so many good and bad memories from my freshman year.
On Friday, waking up for breakfast at 9:30 a.m., was difficult because of our late arrival the night before, but we all made it down alright. After breakfast we got to vote on what our team activity for the day would be. It was between going to the mall or the zoo. I voted to go to mall because I needed to buy a dress for my boyfriend's track banquet. Lucky for me, we ended up going shopping, so I was excited.
When we got back to the hotel, everyone started to get ready for the meet before we went to lunch. We had about and hour before and after lunch to get ready. It doesn't really take me very long to do my hair and makeup, so I waited until after lunch before I got started.
When we got to the stadium that night, everything before the meet went really well. Arizona provided us with an excellent locker room with big couches in it. They also had a wonderful training room for pre-meet treatments.
We started the meet off well with some good floor and vault scores. We were actually in the lead going into the uneven bars. We made some pretty big mistake that set us back, but we finished with a solid beam rotation where we put up some good scores. In the end, we finished third.
As a transfer from ASU and once living in Arizona as a child, I had my own little cheering section. My parents, grandma and four family friends came to watch me compete and on numerous occasions started the MIZ - ZOU cheer. Three of my friends that are on the Arizona State swim team that I hadn't seen in almost two years, also made the trip down to Tucson to support me.
After the meet was over, the team went to Chiles where I got to catch up with my ASU friends and reminisce about old times. After a quick goodbye, my parents, grandma and family friends had to leave so they could get back to Phoenix.
The trip home was a little stressful for me, not knowing when exactly we were going to make it back to Columbia that night. When we finally left the St. Louis Airport it was around 5:00 p.m., I was cutting it really close to make it for my boyfriends track banquet at 7:00 p.m. I very quickly realized that I was not going to be able to get ready for the banquet at home, so my teammate Jodie helped get me ready for my big night on the bus. Jodie spent the entire ride back to Columbia putting my hair up in a beautiful up-do that was absolutely fantastic! I also had to do my makeup on the bus which was an adventure all in its self. With the bus's sudden turns and bumps, I was lucky I didn't look like a clown when I came out of the bathroom.
We got back to Columbia right at 7:00 p.m., and I ran to my car while Erin grabbed our bags. We flew home so I could be picked up for my date. Amazingly, I was only 10 minutes late! The rest of the night went the way it was planned and when I finally got to bed around 1:00 a.m., I was exhausted!
Our next meet is going to be at home against Centenary at 7:00 p.m., on the Friday, January 21st. I hope to see you all there! GO MIZZOU TIGERS!!!