Recovery

Today was a workout at Sugarhouse park. I guess the main focus this week is hills. We did the cemetary loop run. At the beginning, I ran with Patrick, Delaney, Sarah, and Becca. After a while, I started losing them at corners, and eventually when I looked back I couldn't see them anymore. I considered going into the cemetary and running the loop, but I have never done that part before and didn't want to get lost. I kept on the street until I reached Melbourne, and I started my way back. A few minutes after running on Melbourne, Emily passed me. Amanda was barely behind her, and I decided the rest of the run would be easier to make it through if I could stay with Amanda. There was some random guy on a bike following us and asking us questions. What school we run for and if the lady running ahead of us (Emily) was with our group. I was a little creeped out and thought that if he followed us any longer I was going to go insane. Eventually Ben passed us, then Amanda and I got to 1700 south so we went around highland and back into the park. Amanda had to be at the dentist at 9, so I went over to the big hill. We ran up it and walked down it backwards 10 times. Then I ran a 1 mile cool down. I did my push ups and crunches and talked with people forever. Now I'm home eating cereal!!

First of all, I would like to wish Susannah a Happy 17th Birthday! Anyways, workout today was at Cottonwood Complex. We started with a 5 mile warm up, running from the Complex to 3300 south, down that one hill, and back over to the Complex. I managed to push to keep up with Amanda again, it was hard, but I'm glad I did it. :) We were doing more hill work today, so we ran to the part of the Region course where you run down a hill across a field and up another hill. We ran those hills 10 times, Roller Coaster!!!! WHEEE! Anyways. After that, Bill wanted us to run a 3 mile cool down just jogging on the Region course, but I only managed a mile of it because I was feeling really sick. The Complex is a fun place, but hard. That doesn't really make sense does it? Oh well. There are exactly 4 weeks (from tomorrow) until Regions!!! I'm so excited! Time to stock up on mangos...

Today was our workout at Wheeler Farm. This has been a difficult week, and I'm really really sore from the past two workouts. We started with our 2 mile warm up. I wasn't feeling too well, so Delaney and I ran the warm up together behind everyone. We also both needed a POTTY break. When we finished the warm up, we did ladders of 1 minute on, 1 minute off, 2 minutes on, 1 minute off, 3 minutes on, 2 minutes off, 4 minutes on, 3 minutes off, 5 minutes on, 4 minutes off, 4 minutes on, 3 minutes off, 3 minutes on, 2 minutes off, 2 minutes on, 1 minute off, 1 minute on, and relax until the loop is done. At first, I ran by myself because the group ahead of me was too fast for me, and the group behind me was slightly slower than the pace I like. I got lapped a lot, then Patrick and Delaney caught up to me. I ran with them for about a lap until Amanda and Kelsie were about to lap me for their first time. As they passed, my watch beeped and we were on again. I decided that I wanted to see if I could keep up with them, I'm so proud of myself! I managed to stay with them the rest of the ladder run, which was the second half. We went to go get a drink with the team, then did more hill work. We ran 10 small loops up the sand hill and down a hill and back around. The downhill was terrible, because there were tree roots everywhere and we were all complaining about spraining our ankles. When we finished with that, everyone sort of broke off to do their own cool downs, however many miles they needed. I needed 2 more, so Dakota and I ran the warm up loop again. It was a hard workout, and I am not looking forward to the JCC tomorrow. Screw trails!

I really hate wild and creepy animals. Today was our trail run up the JCC trail. We started it normally, carrying rocks up the first mile for our little pile of rocks. There was also something slightly new: the temporary shirt pile. I kept running, Ashleigh passed me a little ways after the piles. I made it to the 4 mile going out mark and turned around. On the way up, there is a huge hill about 2 miles in. That hill is killer, and it makes me want to kill someone. Anyways, after coming back 2 miles away from the turnaround point, I got to that hill again. Now we had to run up it 10 times and down it 10 times. Oh the joys of hills week. NOT! Everyone was still there doing the hills, but I was the last one to get there that was going for the full 11. I managed to run the first 4 I was supposed to do, then I had to walk the last 6 because of how painful it was. People finished the hill and continued down one by one. Eventually, Dakota left and I had to do 2 more. I could hear the rattlesnakes. The second I hit the top of the hill on my 10th and final run up, I could hear the snakes getting closer. I booked it outta there! As soon as I reached the shade, I had to walk. But I had only gone a few steps when I heard a big animal moving around, so of course I started booking it again. I picked up my shirt at the rock pile and felt relieved that I only had a mile left of downhill. I started running again, and I saw Dakota. I was scared for my life because wild animals are terrible! So I basically sprinted past Dakota and made my way down. I'm sure my pace was less than a 6 minute mile. I should have slowed down because I could have tripped and died on the rocks, but I could hear animals everywhere. I couldn't see them but I knew they were there. As soon as I saw the opening onto the big road, I managed to slow down and calm myself. I ran down the final steep hill very fast, and went straight into the car. My water bottle was full that morning, and I drank the whole thing. I'm still not over those death hills. I don't really ever want to run at JCC again...

I think the run today was 5, I'm not sure though. Anyways, we started at Liberty park with our warm up lap. I managed to keep up with Susannah and Natalie. Then we did the Firemen run. I ran with the faster group the first lap, which included Susannah, Natalie, RJ, Taylor, Ben, Bill, and the new freshman. Bill said no break at the drinking fountain, but I couldn't continue, so I decided I would wait for the slower group. After about 10 minutes of stretching, I decided to run a lap around the park fast to make up for not going with the faster group. Then we did 10 hills. I thought that by 10 hills, Bill had meant 10 loops to the flagpole and back, but since there's a hill on both sides, it was only 5 loops. But I didn't know that. Then I ran a cool down lap with Michelle. We were soaked because the sprinklers had been on and we had to keep crossing through them, and of course running through the geese.