Running Blog

Workout! So.. basically, we knew we were doing 1000's  but that's all we knew. Coach wouldn't tell us how many, because he wanted us to just keep them under control. He told us before to not go breaking any records, just keep them consistent and around the times we usually get. And then during the workout, he wouldn't even tell us our times, which I found kind of irritating, until we finished anyway.

I felt like the first one was kind of slow, but afterward Coach asked us "how fast do you usually run those?" and Stoner said "3:25" and he acted like we were close to that, so I wasn't too worried. The second one felt about the same. The third one, I had some troubles after the hill, but Coach told me to come catch up with him and Stoner and I did and we all finished together. Then the fourth one.. Coach told us it was the last one, and to keep it solid. I was still tired from the last one, and I was mentally struggling because of when I fell behind on the last one. I did not WANT to go fast on this one, nor did I PLAN to go fast, but I could tell Stoner was struggling too, and Coach just kept yelling at us to keep the pace up. So I went.. then fell behind a little on the hill, then caught back up. When we hit the grass, Coach asked "what's your record? 3:11?" and I thought "holy cow, if I'm close to that, I gotta go now!" So I went, and finished hard. We later found out that all four of our 1000's were 3:17 or under, with the fastest being our first one and my last one at 3:14. So.. Stoner and I now share the new 1000's record. You know you've gotta be pretty cool when you can beat the record by accident, right? (: Or maybe the record just wasn't that fast.. whatever. It's gotta be the first one. (: Anyway, pretty tired from this one, which wasn't supposed to happen. But I feel good, and I'll recover just fine. Harts warm/cool.

AM: Easy, freezing 3

PM: Easy, less freezing 4 with striders

AM: Easy 3.

PM: Easy four with the whole team in ARIZONA! Felt good and was fun.

AM: Easy three out to a sketchy forest neighborhood thing.

PM: Ran the course and did striders after. Felt good. Getting excited.

Warmed up on the course with the girls.. some of us had to go to the bathroom the whole time.. by the time we finally got over to them, it was almost race time.  Kinda scary.

Race: Well, we got to the line and I was feeling pretty confident.  Still nervous, but confident.  We closed our eyes to pray, and when we opened them, everyone was gone.  I thought the race had started.  Turns out the guy said everyone could do a stride out, but we missed the memo cause we were praying.  About then, I got really nervous.  We started, and it wasn't a fabulous start for me, but I was in an okay position.  Mia got out in front of me, and I decided to stay with her.  But then I was feeling good, so I started moving up.  The entire first mile, I felt great.  A little before the mile mark, I looked up ahead for Stoner, but I couldn't see her.  Then I realized she was running right with me, on the opposite side of the path.  That was cool.  Our first mile was 5:45.. crazy stuff.  A little after the mile, I started to fall back a bit.. But I was still pretty positive mentally.  That first mile really helped my mind out, I guess.  When we got a little before the pond, Coach told me to get back in it, so I went and passed a few girls, and then we got to the 2 mile mark: 12:20.  Second mile was quite a bit slower.  When we got to where there was 1000 meters left, Coach told me to start accelerating.  I did.. but the dumb stretch just kept GOING.  I lost it a little bit right there.  When we got to the flags and some guy said to someone around me "push if you wanna break 20!" I was like "well shoot. I've at least gotta break 20." So I started pushing, although not as great as some of my other finishes, and I passed 5 or 6 girls.  I felt pretty good about this race.  Much MUCH better than last year.  I cooled down with Michael and Casey and Byron as they warmed up, and ran around cheering during their race, and then I did some more with Michael after his race, cause someone needed to run with him or he'd have fallen in a ditch or something.