Hong Bing Tang

“Together we can achieve more than we ever could alone.” —Unknown

By: Hong Bing Tang November 3rd, 2024

10/28/2024 to 11/03/2024

Introduction:

What’s up you all! I hope everyone’s week has been great! Mine has been filled with a lot of adventures! With a little bit of a chiller week, in terms of coursework, it was nice to relax a little bit while also continue to keep having fun. Let’s get into it. 

School/Exams:

I only had a exam this week and the majority of the homework for my other classes I was able to complete during the little breaks between my classes. The exam this was in my class about Microprocessors. The last time we took an exam in the class the professor had to give the whole class a 14% curve since the exam was quite tough. Although to make things a little easier and not having us memorize all the assembly code that we had learned, our professor allowed us to make 1 page from and back cheatsheet which was super helpful. So I spent the beginning of my week studying with Jessie and when the exam came up, it was not too bad and way easier than last time. Since I was able to front load my week, I was able to spend a little bit more time to relax this week which was really nice! 

Running:

In order to “help” let go of cross country my running this week was a little different than it normally would be. To start, when I was sent my schedule on how much to run, I was running “60” minutes for all the normal running weekdays. I hadn’t done a normal 60-minute run since the summer, and it was really nice to get back on the cycle. Additionally, I was not doing any workouts this week either. It was a little strange since running longer usually sucks but it wasn’t too bad this week. Additionally, I was actually feeling a little bit sorer without even doing any workouts this week. This is most likely because when I increase mileage, I usually get pretty sore even if it is by only little increases. Overall running this week has been really nice since I am not doing workouts. I feel strong on normal runs, and it feels great! 

Wednesday Movie Night:

On Wednesday, Jessie and I attended a event hosted by central sustainability where we watched a documentary about two people that decided to paddle 425 miles on the shore of Lake Michigan and the Grand River in order to bring awareness to oil spills, and how devastating it would be for Michigan if Line 5, a pipeline that flows across lake Michigan and was built in the 1950s, would burst causing a massive oil spill. It was an awesome documentary since it highlights the struggles, highlights and experiences the two got to experience but also was really informative about the impact of line 5 and the ecosystem that I did not know before the short film. In general, it was really cool to be able to learn more about what is going on in Michigan while also having a cool twist of adventure and passion that the two guys were able to combine and show. 

MAC:

On Saturday our Cross-Country team was racing at Ball State University at Muncie Indiana for the MAC cross country championship. A decent number of us not racing decided to go and make the 4-hour journey to watch the race. So, on Saturday at 6am, Floros, Steve, Abby, Emma and I headed towards Muncie. The journey there was fine as the first hour I talked while struggling to stay away. I finally gave in and slept for 1 and a half hours and woke up right when the sun was rising. After the rest of the ride went by well. When we got to the meet, we walked around the course, which was a course for sure since there were some pretty bad design flaws like a 90 degree turn right before the finish and a random tree in the middle of the course during the first 2k of the race. Although the course wasn’t great, the weather was turning out to be great racing weather. The girls race went off at 11am and they went out quickly. Like usual Em and Nat started off in front of the pack while the rest of the girls were closer to the second pack. However, this time many of these went out which was awesome. As the race strung out the girls stayed strong and a couple of them moved up and helped others. Overall, it was a pretty good race especially for Em and Nat who got first team all MAC. Afterwards it was the guy’s race. Immediately from the gun a small group of 5 runners separated from the group. Our boys got into really good positioning and Miciah did his usually thing of going out fast but was now with Nick, Blake, and Jason. A second pack of our boys passed by a couple of seconds after the first group of guys, and I was excited. After running around and cheering I was super surprised to see Miciah still being our first runner since usually after the first 3k he starts to fade. Although it looked like he was having a day since he was still looking very strong and staying with his group. The rest of the guys were looking good and as the race progressed the race strung out and a while a couple of our guys got stuck in no-man’s land, most of them were staying with another teammates and attempting to move up. This was awesome since Aiden was slowly making his way up throughout the race and was having a day. He started closer to the back of the pack but was moving up well. All the guys closed hard and while it may not have been what they wanted we finished 7^th. One place was better than last year and was way more competitive compared to previous years. Overall, it was really fun to watch the races and see everyone run well! 

While the MAC meet was the main thing going on during the day, I also had plans for something else. After getting some help from mainly Abby, but also Emma, I was planning on asking Jessie to be my girlfriend. I made a little gift basket that had a little squish mellow, some snacks and candy, and some photos of us to give to her. After trying to discreetly come up with a plan to ask her in private along with not making it too obvious that I would be asking her out, we decided to get her to the car, and I would be there to ask. It went smoothly and she was surprised and said yes!  

Conclusion:

Overall, this week has been a wonderful mix of relaxation, learning, and exciting moments. With a lighter course load, I was able to focus on running, connect with friends at meaningful events, and witness our cross-country team shine at the MAC championships and asking out Jessie. This week has been filled with fun and connections. As I look ahead, I’m excited to carry this positive energy into the coming weeks and embrace whatever adventures await! 

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