A Litte Brag...

Here's to my older brother (Kelton Cullenberg, UMaine Jr.), who was the all-school, all-sports athlete of the week for America East!

KKNW,
Addie

Meet @ Colby

Scratch em up CATS! Saturday was the first official meet of the Bates XC season, and after training for over two months without a meet I was definitely ready for something. It was weird arriving on the coach bus in my Bates singlet, because exactly a year earlier I had arrived for my official XC overnight at Colby as a prospective student. This time I felt quite unwelcome wearing a rival school jersey :P In the history of the duel meet against Colby, Bates had never outrun their team, and both the men and the women beat Colby's respective teams this year, so my team is feeling exceptionally good about that. I finished the 3-mile course in 20:28, running the better part of it with my freshman teammate, Isabel Ferguson from Seattle. We also worked with two Colby girls (both from Maine!!), one of them being Maggie Parrish of Falmouth, who I stayed with during my visit last year. It was great to see my family (minus my brother) at the meet, and I'll admit I teared up a little when my little sister surprised me from behind with a hug ;)

KKNW,
Addie

Green Mountain Running Camp 2012

This year was a bit different for me at camp, being an incoming college freshman I was finally promoted from "camper" to "junior counselor in training" or JCIT. Basically the responsibilities of being a JCIT (after shelling out $280) are to mix Gatorade for all 250 ish campers plus the staff for each afternoon run (as well as prepare water and ice coolers), interact with the campers (such as OWNING at dodgeball), making and presenting a skit (we filmed and edited a movie) and finally, acting as supervisors of the famous graduation dance on Friday night. The upside was that we did not have to attend any of the afternoon speakers (some of them come back every year to give presentations- don't get me wrong, they are good, but become slightly redundant after being a camper for four years and hearing them speak each time). The other upside was the nearly $300 worth of Nike gear each of us was given, including an incredible neon-green backpack.

Sunday- Running groups were assigned, I was in charge of group 12 with Anya Pierce, a recent Tufts grad.
Monday- Told we, as JCITs, had to present some sort of skit for Thursday.
Tuesday- Wasted time trying to figure out the skit. Went to the dollar store with Anya to get supplies for our tribute and district members for the GMRC version of The Hunger Games
Wednesday- Lake Day! Wasted time trying to figure out the skit. Drove to Dollar General again with Kevin to do a little impulsive buying with "Debbie", bought snorkeling equipment for the pond. Oh yes.
Thursday- Thursday Night Live! (Finally finished/ showed the JCIT skit. Also performed "Skinny Love" by Bon Iver -as if I even have to say who it is by- with my bro)
Friday- Graduation Run! I kept up a steady stream of positive encouragement for my girls the whole way up the 4 mile long run (2 being uphill). Then proceeded to run the 6 miles back to campus with several of the guy counselors.. 10 miles is the most I've ever gotten in a day! Graduation at night, then the dance where we acted as Holy Ghosts.
Saturday- Short run, then time to leave :(

Bryan Reilly (St. Joe's), Me (Bates) and Jake Nemeroff (another incoming Batesie!!)

KKNW,
Addie

Summerfest 2012

TOP FEMALE FINISHER! I had just returned from Acadian Running Camp and was preparing to leave for Green Mountain Running Camp the following weekend, so going into the race I wasn't positive that I wanted to go all out. I think another part of it was that I was nervous to test my summer training and see how in-shape I actually am, although that test had to happen at some point! I clocked in at 21:12, yet finished the race knowing I had a bit more to give still, I probably could have ended up with about a 20:30 (which is less than a minute slower than my LPR of 19:44). The perks of doing well in this particular race are the prizes.. I ended up walking away with a backpack, $25 to New Balance and a tray of whoopie pies (the latter being my favorite of the awards). It was nice to get in race-mode after a whole summer away from racing.

KKNW,
Addie

Acadian Running Camp 2012

Photo Credit Ben Salinas

Ahhh. Just take a moment to please enjoy the magnificent sight above. The first thing in the country that the sun wakes up every morning is the Maine coast, which is also the first place that gets put to bed.. you know, cause "early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.." (words of wisdom kindly provided by Ben Franklin). Anywho, the above picture was taken during the 4th annual Acadian Running Camp at Narrows Too campground on Mt. Desert Island. This year, 100 athletes from across the state partook in the four-day training camp to hone their knowledge and skills in running, stretching, core, yoga, ultimate frisbee playing, guitar jamming, sandwich-perfecting and friend-making. Each day offered runs on the beautifully maintained carriage trails of the island, and provided learning sessions from experienced athlete-speakers including Louie Luchini and Riley Masters. It was the second year that the unique camp offered a pre-college program for recent high school grads to attend before heading off for college (which I attended as a 2nd year camper). If you are interested in applying for next year's program, be sure to check out the Acadian Running Camp website. Spots fill up fast!! Also, check out the enticing camp documentary created by Peter Logue, son of ARC's founder and Co-Director, OJ Logue.

KKNW, 

Addie

A Bobkitten Edition.

Don't worry, I've been busy staying crazy this summer- here I am enjoying a pleasant snorkel in a pond at Lyndon State College as a GMRC camp counselor with my co-worker Kevin Stanko, Dartmouth '16

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I've decided that I'm not quite ready to give up blogging about running despite the fact that I've already passed the Cougar Chronicles legacy down to upcoming senior Maryam Norton. Because of this, I've been inspired to create a.. sequel if you will, a college edition to my former high school team blog. I am in hopes that athletes and parents across Maine who have enjoyed staying in tune with Mt. Blue XC's absurdity over the past couple of years will continue to do so via Maryam, but also continue the trend by visiting my college blog! I'd love to contribute some of the inspiration for other Maine athletes to matriculate at Bates College :D

I feel like I'll carry "Kila Kitu Ni Wezekana" as my running motto forever, or at least until a new one surfaces at Bates. So until then,

KKNW,
Addie Cullenberg
Bates Class of 2016