Recovery

Today we started with 2 laps warm up (I thought track was over! Its supposed to be XC...) we stretched and went over to the soccer field and did 6 hills. We then did the Shriners drinking fountain run and back and then a lap around the track.

We ran from the teacher parking lot to the cemetery, 2 laps, and back.

Flagpole to flagpole run.

Yearbook day, yeah! To Sugarhouse park until we were at 2.5, then turn around and come back. Then we printed out fliers for our team next year and got the middle school walking home routes right after their school ended. Several people were interested, woo!!

We met at Liberty Park today. We met at the drinking fountain and went half a mile out on the woodchips and back then stretched. Then we did 2 full laps. After the 2nd lap I stuck my head in the fountain because it felt so good and I was SWEATY! Then we ran back out half a mile and back.

I can officially change the name of my blog again! It used to be 'Cross Country Freshman Year' to 'Cross Country Sophomore Year' and now it shall be 'Cross Country Junior Year' Smileyface.

We met at Liberty Park today at 10, and I was up until 1:30 this morning because I had been swimming and tramping at my friends grandparents house. Hehe. So we did a full lap around the park for a warm up, then 10 100meter strides, and another lap cool down. The Fox 13 Live Van was there, and when it pulled up we thought it was Big Buddah haha. It was tempting to go run behind the camera and have the guys all flash...

I did a warm up with Susannah which was about a mile and a half, then we did some strides and drills.

For the race, I got a 6:15 my first mile, and I was the 3rd girl at that point, with only Emily and Susannah ahead of me. But shortly after that, my plantarfacitis or however you spell it started hurting really bad. 2 girls passed me, and I was running the rest of the race really slow because it hurt so bad. Nearing the end, another girl tried to pass me, but I really didn't want another person to pass me, and 2 little boys were gaining on me, so I kicked it. I beat those 3 people, which made me happy, but I was hurting really badly. I then raced Susannah, Dakota, Zach, and Luke up the rock wall several times, and Susannah and I dominated the wall! I got a movie pass in the raffle and a Subway gift card(gross!) plus a gold medal for age :)

Today was the first official day of summer workouts, yay! We met the freshmen at Sugarhouse Park today, and we did a lap on the road for a warm up, then a stretching circle. After the stretching circle, we did 6 strides with the new kids, and then the first state hill 3 times. After that we ran around the pond and back to one of the drinking fountains for a cool down and were at 3 miles. Then all the freshmen left, so the advanced group did some big grass loops, and I did one with Suzette and Dorkota. It was a good workout, although by the end of my grass loop I was feeling kinda sick...Oh well :)

Today we met up at Sunnyside park at 8. We ran down Sunnyside Avenue to 15th east, then into the gulley. The advanced group did 2 and a half laps, the newbies 1 and a half. When I got back to the park, we were at 3 miles. We went over to our tree, circled up, and did arms, and when our third set was done, Susannah, Natalie, Delaney, and I tried to start playing ride that pony, but nobody else played, so we looked like total idiots. We did a lap around the big field, then Bill broke the 24 of us into 3 groups of 8 for stride relays. The first time, our team got a full stride behind from the other 2 groups, we were slow. My tummy hurt really bad, but I pushed through it. After the first relay, everyone had done 4 strides. For the second one, Bill switched around a couple of people, and my team creamed! Yeah! For a cool down we split into advanced group and newbies, so for our cool down we did a full lap around the whole park, then a lap on the field for 5 miles.

The earlier group met by the zoo today and we went along Wasatch Blvd to the flagpole by Thunderbird and back. That whole thing was 5.5 miles, and then our buddy run was 3 miles. Natalie and I led a group of freshmen girls up Shoreline trail to the first fence, then we turned around and came back. That was the highest I've ran since the beginning of track season...I love XC.

For workout today we met at Liberty Park. We all did a lap around the park for a warm up, stretched, then broke into our fireman groups. I was in a group with Natalie, Susannah, and a bunch of freshman girls, I think Sarah, Virginia, and Jesse. After our 1 lap of firemen, we did a full lap of cool down around the park with some others and then a quarter mile out and back so we could be at 5 miles. We did our core, then I went to Great Harvest, yummy!

Today the advanced group met at Sugarhouse Park at 7:15 for a 6 mile run. We did the cemetery run, and I started out with the group, but ended up running with Sarah and Scotty instead. Sarah and I declared that we are going to be famous one day with our books. We finished the run, and when we got back the freshmen and everyone else was ready for the group run. We ran down 21st south to 9th east and over to Fairmont Park. We did 8 strides there, and after the 6th stride, I felt really sick and everything turned black for about 10 seconds, and slowly faded back. I felt rather faint-ish? Anyway, I finished my last 2 strides, then we jogged back up to Sugarhouse the same way. When we got back, we did 1 set of circuits, each thing for 45 seconds. Whenever Emily said something, Cole repeated it, it was really funny. After circuits, I went a little more to be at 10 total for today. Now I have bad blisters...Icky.

Today we met at Sunnyside park for a fartlek workout. We warmed up by going down Sunnyside Ave to 15th east and into the gulley. The advanced group did 2.5 laps, and exited at the top by the park. We stretched, then since Jesse had to leave in 10 minutes and had to do the fartleks, I went with her. I went hard on the on, and on the offs I would go very slow and relaxed so she could get close enough to hear me without pushing too hard on the off. After our fartlek, I did 3 sets of arm swings, 1 minute each, and then I did a big lap around the park for a cool down while everyone else started their fartleks. When they were all on cool down, I did my crunches and pushups. I'm getting better at man push ups. :)

We met at Liberty Park this morning for practice. 4 of the other girls were wearing hot pink shirts that say "I run like a girl try to keep up' and I totally matched them! Except my shirt didn't say the run like a girl. Anyways. We did a full lap around the park for a warm up, and I pushed hard to keep up with Natalie. After that lap, we got water and stretched, then jogged over to the hill. We had to do 6 of those up the hill, across the hill, down to the flagpole, around the flagpole, up the hill, across it again, and down, and they had to be continuous. I pushed hard and stuck with Natalie for the first 3 loops. On the fourth one, I passed her going up the first hill, and I led until the end of that loop, then I pushed really hard the 5th one, and the 6th one I wanted to really go hard, but I was dying and drenched in my own sweat. Still, I feel like I accomplished something really amazing just by staying with her :) We were at 3.05 miles at that point. I started my cool down with Natalie, but she had already beaten me up today (haha) So I was dead. So I did a lap cool down around the park with Amanda to be at 4.5. Then I got a drink of water and did another lap with Patrick and Sarah to be at 6.

I left my house and ran along 14th east to 17th south and up to 17th east and over to 21st south. Then I went up Parleys Way? Idk, that one street by Highland Seminary. I went up that and I turned around at 2.5. I went back down to 17th east, to 17th south, down to 16th east, to Harrison Ave, to 17th east again, to 13th south, then to 15th east, to Kensington Avenue, and back home along 14th east. Now I'm dripping sweat and it feels awful...It was hot and I was determined to finish in under an hour, I finished in 58 minutes and 58 seconds.

Today I went to Sugarhouse park for the advanced group run, but I was 3 minutes late. Travis was there, so I asked him where they went, and he pointed to someone running in a white shirt and said Natalie was chasing them, so I chased her in hopes that I could catch up. However, she went up the hill and the trees prevented me from seeing where she went, so by the time I got to the top of the hill, she was gone. So I did 2 big grass loops around the park for 5 miles. When I got back more people were there, and when the advanced group came back I explained that my sister should wake me up 10 minutes earlier (hint hint). For a simple run, we did a big loop around Sugarhouse park, and then we did some pocket kicks, high knees, powerskips, reach ups, and lunges. After that we did 1 circuit, each thingy for 45 seconds. During the mountain climbers I kept slipping, and there are big mud marks where we did them. We did a lap on the road for a cool down, then sat in the shade by a tree and did core.

Today we met at the Peace Gardens to run on Jordan River Parkway. When I got to the flooded part of the trail, I turned around and went to the big bridge. I had been instructed to go left after the bridge and run by the golf courses for about a mile before turning around and going back, but as I was turning left, a guy on a lawnmower stopped me. "You can't run along here." "But the rest of my team went that way and I have to follow." "Well you can't run on here." "Why not?" "Because you'll get hit by a golf ball." Wierd story, I know, but that guy was a jerk. I ran back along the trail, thinking about how I would only be at 5 by the time I got back, and I was supposed to go to 8. I turned around on the trail and went back again for a bit then turned around and came back, and I was just under 6, but then I decided I'll just do 2 miles later today. Oh how I hated that guy...

Today I thought it was just an 8:00 start with everyone, but it turns out it was a 7:15 advanced before. Well, I slept in...Anyways, it was our scavenger hunt today. I was in a group with Natalie, Suzette, Sarah, Camille, Sage, Michelle, Olivia, and Travis. Our first clue was to find a broken tee at the golf course, then to go to the small bakery and get a small doughnut thingy. Then we went up to the oldest cotton tree in Salt Lake for a picture, then to some pink flowers outside of this garden shop, and then a picture of some windmill. Our next 3 clues required pictures by the stone sugar beets in the area. Our first one was at the Sprague Library, then the one by Petco, and finally the one in Hidden Hollow. Then we had to go to Barnes and Noble and get a picture of Beedle the Bard, and copy down the last line of page one. Then we had to find a specific cookbook, take a picture, and copy down a recipe for some custard Lorraine Quiche. Then we took the list of ingredients down to Smiths and had to put them all in a shopping cart and take a picture, so I climbed in the cart and held up some stuff. The worker lady just laughed at us! Next we had to go to some old tennis courts, which is now a community garden, and go to the message board for the next clue. We had to take a picture by the garden flamingo, then write our names with chalk on the ground. After, we went up to the Youth City thingy and found the tree with a hole in it. There was a paper in there that instructed us to take a picture of the hole, then have everyone find a pinecone and throw it in the river for a race, and time it. We all stood on the bridge and threw our pinecones in, then ran down the stream by the pinecone until it got to a handicapped parking sign in the Boys and Girls Club parking lot. It finished in 7:24. Then we went over to a slide and posed for a picture there, then ran through the sprinklers back to our starting spot. I did another quarter mile to get my Garmin up to 4 miles for the day. Maybe I'll stop being such a lazy bum and go for another run later...

We met at the park and ride today and carpooled up to Pipeline Trail. The Brighton team got there at the same time as us, so there was a TON of people. I started out running with Natalie, Gavin, Sam, and Sarah, but then Bill wanted Nat to pick it up, so I went with them. One of the Brighton boys was running behind us for quite a while, then I think he turned around. At 3.5 miles in, I fell back from Natalie and Bill. As I was turning around at the 4.7 mark, Vuong had caught up to me and passed me. For the rest of the run I stayed up where I could at least see someone, and there were still some others behind me, so if I got eaten by a wild animal, it wouldn't take that long for people to find me. When I got to the end, I needed .75 to be at 10, so I ran up the road to the stone bridge to the wooden wall and back along the boardwalk. The Brighton people gave us yummy bagels. I'm going horseback riding later today!