Week 6 Spring: A Week of Racing, Pancakes, and Unexpected Haircuts
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” – Winston Churchill
By: Hong Bing Tang February 25, 2025
02/17/2025 to 02/23/2025
Introduction:
Hey everyone! I hope you all had a great week last week! My week was very packed last week and so managing all the different components was tough. Even with a pretty busy week, I did a lot of fun things! From managing my subcommittee for DEI week, going to a pancake event, to racing at Saginaw, to hanging out with team, the week was full of adventures. Come join me as I share how it went!
1-MAC week:
One student organization I am part of is the Student Athlete Advisory Committee. This organization is a strict club for student athletes to have a place to plan events that we would like to run along with discussing how the athletic department can better accommodate us. This club is very similar to how a student council is run at high schools. I am currently on the E-board and one of my responsibilities is to lead the initiative for “1-Mac” week, which is basically a week on the education and celebration of DEI. So, for this week, we were planning on posting 2 informational graphics one about Black History month and the African American Pioneers that have paved the ways for many students along with a graphic on the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe. I managed both groups in charge of making the graphics. The graphics that were made looked really well, however, one of the most challenging things of managing was making sure people were working on the graphic and knew what they were doing and being comfortable with sometimes things not being turned in on time. The deadline to turn in final drafts was supposed to be on Friday of the previous week however, even with me reaching out nearly every day the week before people still had not completed what they needed to be done. This was different from what I was used to but really made me learn that sometimes there are some things out of my control and that I did everything I could in order to get the final draft out. In addition to the flyers, we trivia at our SAAC meeting. This worked out well since it allowed people to be competitive while learning new things. However, the event was mandatory for SAAC reps and open to everyone else. There were only a handful of people that weren’t SAAC reps at the event. It’s just really hard to get people to show up to these events if they are not mandatory but it just really deep root problem that is hard to solve. I think people will show up if there is more incentive to go but it doesn’t seem that we will be able to do those incentives.
Pancakes and Friends:
On Wednesday night, Eli, Carson, and I headed to my freshmen dorm to go to an event hosted by Katie. It was a pancake and PJ night hosted by Katie and Campbell. It was nice to be able to go back to Thorpe and see some familiar faces. I was able to talk to both Katie and Brody, whom I had not seen in nearly a month. Additionally, a fun surprise was when we in the lobby, our friend Joselyn showed up. I had not seen Joselyn in nearly a year which was amazing to catch up with her and hear about her classes—one of which she did not like at all, luckily, she told me not to take that class as well. After eating some delicious pancakes, we headed to Merrill to surprise Aiden. After seeing Aiden in Merrill, we headed to Celani to see the dorm boys. While we were there, Carson decided to play a gorilla game on the VR and his reaction and interaction with the people online was very funny. After a little while, we headed back home. Overall, it was a great excursion.
SVSU:
Our team was racing this week! Unfortunately I was not able to make the Michigan meet that msot of the other guys and girls were traveling down to. So I decided to travel with the club running team at CMU to SVSU and race the mile and 800. It was only a small crew of us, Sean was racing the 1 mile and 3k, Grant was racing the 400, Max was running the 400, and 3k and Lily was running the mile. While I recognized faces, I had not met any of the club runners, other than Sean which I had gone to high school with. They were super nice and super friendly which was amazing. Soon after getting to the meet, Sean and I warmed up for the mile. I was super excited for this race since it was set up very well where I could break 4:30 in the mile which was my goal. The race went out very well and I went through the 800 at around 2:15-16 which was right on pace. The second part of the race hurt a lot and I feel off the pack with around 600 to go, however, I was able to stay engaged and I caught some people that also were dying. It was a really good race and I was able to run 4:32.66 which was a huge PR and I was super happy with it. After about an hour, it was time to run the 800! I was put in a pretty fast heat and so I got dropped pretty quick. The race was really painful but for being a double it went pretty well. I am super happy with how I did since for the past 2 years I had not been able to do one indoor race and now I completed a complete indoor season. Overall a great way to end the season!
Saturday Shenanigans:
With the race on Friday, I really got to give myself a day to relax and really do nothing after a very busy week. I started off the day by doing chores and vacuuming the living room, doing laundry, and cleaning the bathroom; these tasks were neglected. After completing these tasked I was also able to get a good chunk of reading done as well. The guys decided to play basketball, so I decided to tag along. We played two games of 5 v 5 and it was super fun, and I didn’t play too badly and made a couple of buckets which normally does not happen. After basketball Carson and I headed home before eating some dinner. To end the night, I headed to the guy’s house to watch the lakers play the Nuggets which was an exciting game since both of the teams were really good. In addition, Luka was playing for the laker which was the first time that I was seeing him play for the new team; although he was playing really bad but apparently started to play well after I left. A little into the second quarter I was getting really tired so I headed home with Carson and hit the hay so I could get a lot of sleep before long run.
Happy Birthday Greg:
After a good long run on Sunday, I had a pretty packed Sunday! My parents came up to grab the skis, so we hung out for a few. Jessie met my mom, and we talked a lot about how life is back at home for them and how their cruise trip was. It was good to see them and talk since I hadn’t been able to do that since winter break. They had to leave around 4pm. It was also Greg’s Birthday that day, so we decided to go out to eat to Los Azteca’s for dinner. It was nearly the whole time, which was amazing, and it was good to really be able to chat with everyone. However, the craziest thing that came from dinner was that Clay was going to shave his head for 120 bucks and Nick also had to since he lost what are the odds. I had a lot of homework to do unfortunately so I could not watch them get their hair cut, however, after checking the group chat a couple of hours later, I learned not only did Clay, and Nick shave their heads, but somehow Aiden, Ethan, and Jason also shave their heads. It was a crazy sight to see and truly made my week.
Conclusion:
Looking back on the week, I realize how much I packed into just a few days—balancing leadership, racing, and time with friends. There were lessons in patience, resilience, and the importance of celebrating small wins. Whether it was pushing through a tough race, catching up with old friends, or seeing some hilarious bets unfold, this week reminded me that the best moments often come when you least expect them. Here’s to more weeks filled with growth, laughter, and maybe a little less stress!
Goals Update:
Journaling: Didn’t journal at all this week but went to counseling which helped and made me realize I might need to do more.
Nail biting: Not sure how to feel about this
Reading: Got a Steve Prefontaine book from Jenny and am about halfway through it.
Phone usage: An average of 1 hour and 48 minutes I used my phone a lot more due to having to contact people for 1-Mac week
Get in Touch
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