Providence Craft Brew 5k

I came in third at a not very competitive 5k and then showed some XC pride at the subsequent beer festival.

Tangier, Morocco

Everyone else has their hands closed for "20X-" mine are open for XC. From a trip this summer.

cXc in the Land of the Golden Fleece

Jason and the Argonauts set out to reach ancient Colchis and capture the golden fleece. This picture was taken at Tsikhidziri (and that's one of the more easily pronounceable Georgian names), a medieval fortress in western Georgia on the Black Sea coast. This picture is from last year, but I am once again in Georgia, sporting a similar beard as I tramp through the mountains looking for the secrets of ancient metal production.

XC in Asia

I think I forgot to say I went to Asia last year.

This is xc in Mongolia on top of a giant rock.

 This is XC on the great wall. I'm totally wearing the same clothes I was in the Korea photos. Whatever

excursions with the fam to SE Asia

For two weeks in February/March, the Ly household travelled to Cambodia with a detour into Thailand. This landmark is called Khao Cheejan (or Buddha Mountain) located near Pattaya, Thailand. Attempts to retrieve the gold proved impossible as it would require rock climbing skills that I lack. It was created in 1996 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of King Bhumibol Adulyade's ascension to the throne.

This is me mostly blocking Angkor Wat (the temple, not the band). This was built in the 12th century as a Hindu temple, but was converted to Buddhist at some point. Everything is ridiculously detailed and really amazing to see.

On one of the last days of the trip, we went to a Cambodian national park, which is basically a mountain. We were high enough that clouds could pass through us even though the picture doesn't reveal much about the altitude.

Bonus Picture: Me from Paris I've delayed putting up from two years ago!

Mesozoic XC

The XC has traveled from various points around the globe to your computer screen through the wonders of technology.  Now, for the first time, the XC appears not from another location in the world, but from another time period - the late Cretaceous!

An intrepid team of explorers traveled to an unknown location to capture the photograph of a lifetime, posed next to an undetermined therapod in a strangely two-dimensional world.  Scientists were baffled and amazed by this unique picture and the possibilities it represents.  Amid the confusion, however, one thing is clear: the XC paves the way to all scientific advances.

Footnote: Coincidentally, similar pictures were found at the Rochester Museum and Science Center, including a photograph of Sue, the largest and most complete Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton ever discovered.

(Click to appreciate in her full glory)

Island Hopping with the Fam

Team, let's look alive here! The last post is from the Jman and I LAST YEAR!!! Certainly, people are doing cool stuff, going cool places, flashing the XC besides me and guests in Senegal?!!! Where is everyone!

My WHOLE fam just visisted me in Senegal for two weeks. They were real troopers: they went shopping in Tamba, spent 10 days in my village, had about 5-6 dance circles plus other moments of spontaneous singing and such, we broke a couple toes, fell a few times, and then last two days we stayed on two islands off the coast of Dakar. Islands and coasts are great opportunities for the XC to be flashed. I haven't flashed the XC in some time, but it came right back... (it helps that it's tatooed on my leg...)

On the island of Ngor whenwe visited for the day on 19 dec.

Night on a dock on the island of Goree (Swat XC Senegal alum Jman knows). The camera couldn't capture the full awesomeness of the shot. After traveling down to my village, and spending 10 days there, we made the way back up top Dakar and spend on night on the island of Goree, then...

...crossed the city and spent the next night on the island of Ngor. These three below from 03 jan.

"Pullups in precarious positions"...it wasn't entirely precarious, but I still couldn't resist a pullup there. Also got some sweet pushup shots, but those are a dime a dozen. 

...from Senegal with love
dh

Africa by Storm Deuxieme

Sorry, these are not turned properly. We visited two waterfalls down int he Kgou region. The top two pics are from a hike up this mini mountain. I'll spare all the awesome details, but the next morning we climbed back up to watch the sun come up. The bottom picks are from the Dindefelo waterfall. Awesome, but that water was freezing!!!!

Africa by Storm

Whoops. I cut everyone out of the shot except me. We were doing the xc though. 

J man and one of my host brothers (the one who studies the Koran in the town near our village). To the left (why did I frame them this way?) the water was almost perfectly calm and there was an errie forest of dead trees still somehow standing in the middle of the water. An entrancing scene. 

From the J man's visit, we biked 15k down to the river, to the dam. I had never been there, and thought the word being used to describe the place 'barrage' meant like campament, like a place to hang out, etc. No no, 'barrage' just means dam. Pretty awesome place, one of the many we found, to just play around. (Pictures of us swimming around available on request...) Before the J man's visit, I had only seen monkeys once, and only briefly as they crossed the road. Here, a nice herd (not correct) of monkeys scampered away when we rolled in, and the J man and I pursued them briefly up the hill. We had to haul back, but rolled back home just as it was getting dark. An early adventure from the many we had while the J man was here. 

XC in Seoul

Recently, Korean Air was cool enough to turn a 3 hour layover in Seoul into a 3 day layover, and I went around town with a family friend and represented the XC.

in front of the palace.

This is a big public bathhouse called a http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jjimjilbang . It's the kind of thing you never do until you're traveling and someone says "spend the night in a sauna? sleep on a floor?" and you're like "why not."

Thailand

Here I am walking into the ocean

And then, I took an XC shot on the rocks;

Khao Lak, Thailand, is paradise! If you're reading it in Google Reader you can zoom in on the super high-res shot in case you miss my naked torso.

Regionals 2011

Shoutouts to Melissa Frick '12, who finished in 16th, one spot out of qualifying for nationals as an individual, and Jacob Phillips '13, whose 7th place finish means he will be the first representative of the men's team at nationals since Marc Jeuland in 2000. The women finished 13th, the men 7th, and a large portion of the noncompetitors showed up to cheer.

SPRING BREAK WOOOOOOOO

XC (well, technically track I suppose) triumphantly returned to Florida in 2011 for spring break shenanigans. Eric, Shifty, and I are pictured here on Clearwater Beach in Tampa, with the Gulf of Mexico behind us. How many states do we have now?

XC from Springer to Katahdin

Daniel "Danny" Cramer '12, taking a semester off to hike the Appalachian trail in its entirety. What a badass. I just snagged this from his facebook photos, so all I know is that this is somewhere in Tennessee.

three continents of XC

In December, I went to Istanbul, then Bursa, then Cairo with two friends. It was sweet.

This is in front of the Blue Mosque.












We went to Bursa, a city in the Asian part of Turkey, entirely because Dan hadn't seen anything green or natural in months (he lives in Cairo).












The Pyramids are pretty cool. Basically you're in Cairo, you're in Cairo, and then BAM: you're at the pyramids. I'm wearing XC apparel in every photo here. My beard also progresses noticeably.

Faux Pas

Haha, sorry friends. So I was trying to figure out what happened to the blog posts for my blog about my time in Senegal cause they weren't on my blog...because I had accidentally posted them on THIS blog. My bad! Just to see who's paying attention out there...

Backside of the Atlantic

This shot doesn't quite capture all the grandeur of the moment, but days after evacuation from Niger thanks to terrorist activities, we had the time to galavant along the beach of the other side of the Atlantic in Rabat, Morocco. Behind me, is the endless Atlantic. Before me, is a beach where some people were actually surfing (i.e. trying to surf) and some kind of old fort/ castle. To my right, was a sweet lighthouse. To my left, another jetty in the foreground and a city (part of Rabat?) in the background. Waves (not pictured here) crashed into the massive stone cubes strewn at the end of this jetty, spraying water on us. Note my ridiculous attire. If I shame the xc, we can take it down or photoshop in a speedo and some muscles.

cXc and the Winter Hill Gang

Some fine young lads, Swat XC '06 and '07, two of whom have yet to appear in the annals of cXc fame. Welcome, gentlmen, welcome.

cXc in the Philippines

This delightful cXc comes to us from the terraced landscape of the Philippines. Special thanks to non-XC runner Emily for putting the cXc on the map in East Asia.

So this is Africa...

At long, long last...a shot from me somewhere mildly specatular. On a butte/ mesa somewhere in Niger. I forget (that is, could never remember or pronounce) the name of the closest town, but from the small village where I visted a current PCV, we walked a few kilometers into the town, then a few more kilometers up the butte. Also, got pics of some pushups in precarious positions and pullups in precarious positions...but that's the matter of another blog... (and an internet connection that works)