Update in my life

Well I have not written in quite awhile and I apologize greatly for that. I have put up a lot of different pictures in no particular order just with events from the last few weeks. A lot of stuff has happened, I have been in Boston and Myrtle Beach, and Raleigh, NC, life has been quite busy. But enjoy reading the captions to the pictures and just random stuff in my life.

So during our Spring Break trip down at Myrtle Beach we had a talent show on Wednesday Night which was open to anyone to perform anything. Zach did a rap as shown in this picture while Josh (to the left) was his back up dancer. He did a rap to Eminem's Lose yourself but he rapped about the team, I was in verse two, something about my flippy hair do. It was fantastic, and he memorized the entire thing, very impressive.

Also during Spring Break our entire team went bowling (unlimited games) for $5 which was great. I did not bowl very well with a top score of 120 which is pretty pathetic, I need to get better at bowling, I really want to be a better bowler, golfer, and tennis player. I need to be able to beat dad in all three, thats pretty key!

I was introduced to rock climbing the Monday after Boston. This is the rock climbing gym in down town Lynchburg right over by where Uncle Kurt lives. It was actually really fun, its quite intense though. The wall is 50ft tall and it was pretty tough. My arms were really tired afterwards and my legs too were pretty tired. It is a very difficult sport.

Cameron and I went mini golfing one day, I pulled out the win and the goofy smile that really isn't a smile too. She had a good chance just had a couple bad holes in the last 5 holes that really killed her.

This is the sunset one night when I was down at the beach, the trip was really good, the weather was overall very nice. It was a great time to be able to get to know the team better and just to spend time with them.

So the Sunday that we were there, the team spent like all day on the beach. Zach, Andrew, and Ryan spent all day digging a hole. The hole got to about 7 feet or more deep. Andrew hit water down there and Jenn (far left) built some stairs. It was an impressive hole, the cops came (three trucks) later at night and they ended up barricading it and putting caution tape around it as well. So things got off to a good start day 1.

This is the view from my balcony up on the 11th floor. The ocean was nice, it was quite cold, I went into it a couple of times to ice but it was still fridged. I enjoyed this view very much so.

This is the more experienced Caleb Edmonds climbing a very difficult route. It was cool to watch Caleb and Peter climb because they have been doing this for years and are really good. Peter was my climbing mentor, he put everything into running terms for me so I could understand. Also my shoes were really tight

This is my bed at the hotel in Boston during IC4a's. Okay this room was intense, it was the nicest hotel that I have ever stayed in. For one, why do I have so many pillows, I really don't need this many pillows.

This is the metro station down in Boston. This was the first time I have ever been on a metro station so it was quite the experience. It was really crowded and you had to be on the ball and move quickly. Especially since we had a large group, it was quite hectic.

This is in downtown Boston, there was a 3 story mac store. I didn't get a chance to go into it but I know Dad would have wanted to for sure.

And this is some more of our hotel room in Boston, the t.v. was really nice, except the remote stopped working and we couldn't change the channel, volume, or power on the t.v. so we had to leave it on one day when we left.

Well those are some pictures and things that have been going on. IC4A's went really well and was a great experience. I really enjoyed Boston (much more than NYC) and I had the best race of my life running 2:25.9 in the 1000m. School has been going well, I finished my one online class which is a relief (cause I do not like Philosophy). I only have 6 weeks of school left which is crazy. I had a couple races over spring break which went okay, not great. And I raced down in Raleigh, NC this weekend and ran a 3:58.43 1500m which was a good start to the 1500m. I am greatly looking forward to this weekend, we have a home meet here at Liberty and I believe I will be running the 1500m and the 4x400m. I am excited to see Dad and Dell and whoever else comes down.

I miss you all up in New York, I hope things are going well, I'll try to give you guys a few more calls when I'm not so busy.

God Bless,

Jarred

Big South Conference Champions 2011!

Wednesday 2/23:

On Wednesday we left from campus at 10am, I had to go to English class and take a quiz at 8:50 and then I got breakfast before boarding the bus. The bus trip was good, I waited for Isaac to finally get his paper done and then we watched some Chuck. I just spent most of my time, reading and texting people. Then we got to the hotel and after dropping off our stuff we headed over to the track and I went for a run with some of the guys on these trails around the Clemson University campus. Clemson has a super nice campus, it was beautiful down there, the weather was nice and it was good to be there. When we got back to the hotel we showered up and got ready for dinner. I went to this really good pizza place called Mallow Mushroom I think or something like that. I ate with some of the girls and Coach Scott. After that we just headed back to the hotel and chilled for the rest of the night.

Thursday 2/24:

Thursday morning I woke up and went down to the first floor to get some breakfast, I went with my roommate Spencer (the Canadian). Breakfast was good, and after that I really just chilled in my room for along time until our bus left at 1:45pm for the meet. I had to wait around so long because the DMR was the last event and I was the last leg so I was literally going to be the last set of people out on the track. I cheered for people most of the meet, Zach ran the 3k so I cheered for that. Then finally it was time to warm up and I went out and warmed up with Rigler. Finally after I got all warmed up and ready to go, our relay team of Chris Arvey (Freshman), Spencer and Andrew got to the line. Andrew was the lead off guy in the 1200m and he split a 3:10 and got us into second. Then Chris ran the 400m and split a 50 point and he was in third, then Spencer ran 2:00 and kept us in third and so that where I got the baton. Coach Scott told me just to relax especially the first few laps. So I went out in 32 and the guy in front of me built a gap on me, and then my second lap I split a 32 for second lap and then hit 32 again. The Wintrop guy was starting to come back to me and then my fourth lap was 33 and I caught the guy and I just stayed right behind him. The 5th lap was a 34 and Coach Scott yelled for me to get around him and so I did and gapped him and finished with a 31-31-31 or something like that. I know my final split was 4:18.0 and we got 2nd in 10:20.6 which qualified us for Boston. It was a good race, I felt good and didn't even feel like I went all out. So it was a fun night and awesome to be up on the podium with my relay team. Later that night I iced, got pizza, and drained my legs and then went to bed.

Friday 2/25:

I woke up at 6am to get some food and I had a little bit of yogurt just to get something in my stomach. Then I went back to bed for a little until leaving on the bus at 8:30 to head over to the track. I didn't have much time before getting warmed up, so I spent some time reading in 2 Thessalonians and really just trying to quiet my heart and focus on giving my race to God and not worrying about all the stress of the race. After that I warmed up and got ready to race. The rest of the team got to the track just a little bit before the race and Isaac, Sam, Will and I got ready to run. Finally at about 10:55am my race lined up and we got ready to start. The gun went off and immediately there was jostling and fighting for position and I got boxed in and the first lap was a 36 which was way to slow. I tried to get out and on the second lap I almost got tripped up and fell, I have no idea how I didn't fall but it definatly threw me off and I just felt really uncomfortable. My legs did not feel as good as they did the day before and they just tired and heavy despite all the preparation I did. I faded at the end and finished 8th in my heat in 4:25.5 and 9th overall. As soon as I crossed the line, even though I knew it wasn't a good race physically and the time wasn't good, I got down on my knee and thanked God for allowing me to race and allowing me to run my hardest for Him. I felt comfort in my defeat, and I wasn't disappointed but felt like the race wasn't mine but God's and that gave me happiness. I did a good cool down which didn't feel very good because I was tired but I needed to recover well, and then I got changed and cheered for my teammates the rest of the meet. The team did very very well, and we won both the men and womens titles (the guys by 80 points and girls by 20 points). After the awards ceremony we headed home on our very long 7 hour journey. I sat with Isaac on the bus which is always fun and the whole team watched How to train your dragon and Beauty and the Beast. Both good movies.

And now I am getting ready for Boston and just trying to prepare both my body and my heart to race to the best ability that I have and for the complete glory of God.

Tim and I during the awards ceremony, Tim had a Personal Best in the Weight Throw.

The Clemson Track, a very nice facility

The beautiful sunset on Thursday night

Zach thought all went well, "two thumbs way up"

A busy weekend

Isaac and I at the track meet at Penn State

Dad (Pods): Dad my running log is all up to date as of right now, I had a pretty good week of mileage (63 miles), and got a really good 13.5 miler in today at a pretty good pace out on the trails. I race on Friday at home, I'll probably do a workout on Tuesday but I don't know for sure. I sent you a link on facebook to the conference rankings (which haven't included this weekend yet), I am still first in the 1000m and Isaac and I should be 1-2 in the mile. I did pretty bad on my philosophy test again today, I'm trying harder, I need to figure it out. Thanks for coming to the meet to see me, and shave your beard. Oh and the gift I was going to give you was tasty cakes that I picked up but turns out they had coconut in them instead of peanut butter because its valentines so that was really stupid and they are nasty so you wouldn't have wanted them. Its the thought that counts.

Mom: I forgot to show you my nails, I had planned to so you could see how good I've been and be very proud of me but I forgot unfortunately. Thanks for coming it was really nice to see you, I wish we all could have hung out more, but with the weather and the craziness that comes with track meets I know its hard. Thank you for all the stuff too, I'll try to get some of that tea, my ear felt better today, still not 100% but I think its healing, it was just weird because it hasn't felt 100% for like a week. Hopefully it will go away soon.

Dell: I did get your text this morning thank you. I woke up late because we got back at about 3am last night and I went for a run after devotions so I never got around to texting back. I wish you could have come even though I didn't really get to talk to the others much. I'm glad to hear that your writing is going well, and hopefully applebees will call you soon, I went to eat at applebees down at Penn State the night before the race (it took foreverrr to get our food). I also got to go to Wegmans which was like a treat for me because there is no wegmans down here. Anyways, yes I can be your valentine!f

Dem: Hey thanks for coming to the meet, I didn't know that you and Neeki were coming, I wish we could have talked more but the meets are crazy and the weather was bad so I knew you all had to head back. Yeah that story was a little weird I must say, a little on the creepier side miss dark writer. You should write a happy story about bunnies jumping over rainbows and then they find a friend. So let me know how that ends.

Neeki: Hey hope you had fun at the meet while you were there, it was nice to have you come and support me it really means a lot. I hope all is going well with school and everything there. I know you guys got a lot of snow too, we have zero snow down here and it was actually about 50 degrees today so you are missing out. Keep working hard.

Gideon: How did Baltimore go? I talked to mom and dad today and I know you are down there probably for some sort of check up, I'm not sure. But I hope your leg is doing well. What are you reading nowadays? You are always reading and I'm sure you are into some sort of book or series of books.

Gabe: Are you staying out of trouble little one? I got to race this weekend, you would have liked the track I ran on. Someday hopefully you will get to race there, it is a very cool track and you can run reallly really fast on it, hopefully faster than me. Did you have fun in all the snow this week? Did you guys make any snowmen or cool forts?

DJ: Hey my man how is it going? What are you doing in school right now, do you like it? Have you liked having all the snow? Mom sent me some pictures of you and Gabe playing in the snow, you are lucky, there is no snow down here at my college. Keep playing and doing your school work with Gabe and Mommy.

New Style

So I'm trying to make more posts on here this semester and make it so you all will actually want to read them so I thought I would change up my format a little bit, and write each of you a little something.

Dad: Yes I am up to date on my running log so we can clear that up front. I haven't talked to you since you had everything going on in Chicago so I hope that went well for you and Dave. Coach seeded me at 4:16 for this weekend in the mile so we will see where that puts me. I am still coughing some but slowly getting better each day. I will probably do some type of speed workout tomorrow but I don't know what yet. I'm sure I'll call you soon and fill you in.

Mom: Mother dear, I first wanted to let you know that I have been doing a really good job at not biting my nails. You have to see them, they are actually normal and my fingers look much much better. I also purchased some Vitamin C (100 500mg tablets) so I have been taking those to boost up my immune system. Being sick here is tough because I realized how I don't have access to all the stuff that is at home that I usually do. But I am making due right now and getting over this. School is going well, I did bad on my first online exam but I'll figure it out.

Dell: Did you ever hear back from Applebee's? Other than that how is work going at the shop and your writing? I feel like you have been writing forever, and I'm sure you are done with some stuff. You would really like my English teacher, he is far far better than the one I had last semester. We played mafia on Saturday night, oh crap I could have asked about your shirt but I forgot, hmm I'll try to remember. We had a bunch of people again, including three recruits who were killed off early in each round which was funny.

Dem: Did you ever keep working on those cool scarfs? I am sure you are up to some sort of artsy project right now. I wore my scarf last night, so I still do rock it here on campus. I did get your email by the way on my gmail account with your essay. I got it a long time after you sent it though because I don't use that email any more, if you ever send me anything send it to jcornfield@liberty.edu. I'll try to correct it for you and send it to you when I have some time.

Neeki: Our team just came out with a big poster with our track schedule on it and it also has a picture of some of top athletes. Its pretty cool, I'll try to bring one down for whoever comes to my meet at Penn State this weekend. I know you like to do that kind of stuff on the computer and you would like it. I am sure you also are currently into some sort of project like Dem at home, what is it?

Gid: You know I saw a guy the other day at the cafeteria who has a really short arm with only a couple of fingers and he is actually on the football team here. He is a kicker and he is pretty good, I have seen him catch a football with his small arm like you do by catching it up against his body so that reminded me of you. His name is Benn Shipps, if you click on this link you can see a picture of him.http://www.libertyflames.com/index.cfm?PID=10872&RosterID=2146&TeamID=9 , its interesting because he played at Taylor University before coming to Liberty and Dad went to Taylor University too.

Gabe: I hope you are staying out of trouble there little one. Make sure you aren't hurting your brothers and when you play be gentle. I have the picture you made for me on my desk so I see it every day. Remember to keep doing your school work, it is really important to listen to Mom when you do your school work so you can learn. Have you been playing outside a lot?

DJ: Mom has sent me a couple pictures of you and they are funny but you never are smiling, you have quite the straight face. I'm pretty excited because it was my roommate Zach's birthday yesterday and he got all three Mighty Duck movies which you probably haven't seen but we used to watch them when we were your age. You should ask Dem if she can get them from the library or something. Anyway I hope you are doing well, peace out.

Virginia Tech - Hokie Invitational

I ran in my first Collegiate Track meet on January 21-22 at Virginia Tech. On Friday the 21st I ran in the 1 mile race as a rabbit for Sam Chelanga. I wasn't quite sure how I would do with pacing just because I wasn't able to get on the track at all before the race and I haven't run a track race in so long. But nonetheless the race went really well, and I took Sam through the 800m in 1:59.5 and he went on to run 4:03.8 which ranks him #4 in the country right now which is pretty sweet. It was a really great experience and really fun, the race went by so quickly and was over before I knew it. Above is a picture of the track which was really nice, it had a slight bank.

This is just a picture of Coach Scott and other distance runners draining lactic acid out of their legs

On Saturday the 23rd I ran in the 1000m which also went really well. I ran 2:30.07 as seen in the picture and I won by heat by over 4 seconds. The time was a 3 second PR for me and ranks me #6 all time for Liberty but I missed the IC4A qualifying mark by .12 seconds but it was still a good day and I look forward to my next race.

Christmas

We got home from Lynchburg on Christmas morning at about 1am and were up until about 2:30am before I went to bed. When I woke up we spent the morning wrapping presents and getting ready for our Christmas traditions. The boys had a lot of fun and we all opened our stockings and presents. It is extremely nice to be home now, I haven't been home since October so its nice just to relax and spend some time with my family. The picture above is of me and DJ on Christmas morning.

DJ and Gabe with their new hats (DJ initiated the hug)

DJ told me that he committed to Liberty to run Cross Country, so he wanted me to know that.

Gid got a new mohawk hat which he liked

I am not sure all of what my plans are for this break, hopefully a lot of relaxing and seeing friends and spending time with family. I went over to the Nagles on Christmas night and hung out with Alex, Lani and Ryan so that was fun. Hillary came over the night after Christmas and right now Stephen is here, we went out to the Salvation Army and got me a really nice suit for 15 dollars so that was a success. We will see what the plans are for today and the upcoming days, hopefully they will be filled with fun.

"And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the request that we have asked of him" 1 John 5:14-15

Jarred

Florida Adventure

Here is my with Daniel, Isaiah and Abram out on Lido Beach in Sarasota. I was able to visit the Efthimious for 3 days after my semester of school ended. It was really nice seeing them and being able to experience Florida as they do. The water was really cold at the beach, I just got in up to my knees to ice, but we had fun and I got some sea shells.

Here is Isaiah with his super hero pose with the ocean in the background with the sun shinning down. He didn't want to do it at first but we were able to convince him to.

Another shot of the beach

Some random big buildings by the beach

Going into down town, which was very rich like and upscale, it was quite nice.

I had a great trip down to Florida, it was on my heart to visit them for awhile now and God made a way for me to do so. I got to spend a lot of time with the whole family, particularly Anna and Daniel which was fun and we had some good conversations. I went on some great runs by lakes and a 5am morning run on the beach in the rain. Me and Isaiah saw a poisonous black racer snake so that got the adrenaline going. We also played Monopoly with credit cards, the new technology for games wow. I hope to see more of them in the near future and it was nice to rekindle our friendships :)

Jarred

Coming Next:

Christmas