The Shadow Racer

Nice easy 5 towards Jake's house on the farm roads and back to mine on 2450. Averaged 8:51/mile. Gotta love cold mornings when you run past a delicious steamy sewer..yuck! The farm roads meant dealing with my biggest fear: Cows (special thanks to my Coach for adding to that fear!) . I survived! I kept thinking of Kyler when I was on the farm roads. When I was a sophomore, he would take me off-roading there in his truck after XC practice. Hope the MTC is treating him well! After the run, I went to the Temple with some of the girls on the team. We've done this several times before and it always makes me so happy when they ask me to take them. LOVE MY GIRLS!!

Easy 4 miles by myself along the old bus route. Averaged 8:24/mile. No weight room with the team today since school is out for MLK Day, but Danielle and I are going to go to my Grandma's gym in the trailer park to do our own lifting to keep on track. Happy Day Off!

Ran 5 with Chloe around Webb Hill. 9:01/mile. Finally feeling back to normal after our break.

Mountain Goat Day!! 6 with Chloe and Taylor through the Hidden Valley Hills to Bloomington Elementary and back. 8:56/mile. Really picked it up the last 2 miles.

Felt pretty horrible today. Guess 4 hours of sleep and a skipped breakfast aren't super great for you! I'll have to get a little bit more organized so I can keep up my Thursday morning routines with Jake! 4 1/2 miles to LV Park and back at 8:52/mile. Ran with Coach, Staci, and Taylor on the way there, and flew solo on the way back.

Spectrum and back with Chloe. Calves were pretty tight, so I had to stop for a quick stretch at the turn around. Chloe kept on going, so the way back turned into a nice little game of chase the rabbit. I think we both had fun with that. Caught her and ran together for the last 3/4 mile. Total of 3 at 8:02.

Wind, rain, and hills were not kind today. I couldn't find my tights so my sweats were sure dragging in the wind! Tried not to think about it and just enjoy getting in some miles! 4 on my Majestic View Parabola Run. 9:13/mile. Patience is key.

To the Spectrum and back again. Originally supposed to pace the girls at 8:30/mile, but after the first mile I was alone so I went my own pace. Ended up averaging 8:07/mile. Running in the rain is always intense. Love it!

Down to the bridge and back-one of my favorite runs! Same story as yesterday: paced at 8:30/mile at first then ended up alone and had overall pace of 8:09/mile. I want to get my "Easy 3" pace down to about 7:50/mile in the next couple weeks.

Weights this morning: Mostly back, hips, and core. Ran 4 this afternoon. Down BH Drive and back with Coach Fielding. 7:52/mile, and it didn't even feel too fast! Guess I can reevaluate my goal.

5 miles in Hidden Valley Hills and through the tunnel. I was alone this time, but still managed to hit a 7:54/mile average. It's hard to tell from these easier runs, but I think I'm looking really good for this track season!! Lower Calves are still pretty tight, I am in desperate need for new shoes!

Another 4 with Coach Fielding down BH drive. 7:50/mile. Super sore from weights this morning.

Extended the Farmroads Loop out toward Gianna's house. Unbelievably sore! Combination of bad shoes and overworking in the weight room...all my miles have been easy! Slower pace (8:45/mile), but got a good stretch and trying to get my calves feeling better!

Five down to Little Valley and back. I had this bright idea to put extra inserts in my shoes to help support...SO DUMB! Ended up throwing the extra inserts away at the park. Still a lot of lower calf pain, but I did lay off the calf raises (probably the main part of the problem!) in the weight room today. Gary died during the run so not certain of my pace, but it was 7:48 when it died. Hit the infamous ice bath after. Hopefully it helps!

Still in so much pain! No weights today. Easy 4 on the strip (supposed to have been 6 but my shin splints were unbearable today!). 8:23/mile. GIANNA WAS THERE! So good to have her back and just talk about life. Not a bad run considering the pain. Went to the Sheerans after practice to get hooked up to the machine, hope it helps!

Weights this morning. Did a little back but mostly biked to try to loosen the legs up. 6 (ish) around Webb Hill today. Still in a little pain but much better! My trainers are just absolutely no good anymore, so I ran in some old volleyball shoes. Not great but still better than my exhausted Mizunos. Ran with Gianna and Coach. 8:26/mile. A lot slower than I want but I gotta be patient and let myself heal. Had our "Wonderful Wednesday" today with Dallin, Taylor, Gianna, Brianna, Staci, and me. Dallin's sister made us Creme Brule and we picnicked in the back of the school. GOOD TIMES!

Two mile warm up followed by a one mile time trial. I was so excited to be only 2 seconds off my PR when we haven't done any speedwork yet and I wasn't going all out. Plus, I was wearing basketball shorts. I think I could be able to do the 2 mile at that pace in a real race. Gotta re-evaluate my goals now and keep working hard! 1 mile cool down bare foot on the turf. 

Woke up feeling really sick this morning. I stayed home all day Sunday being sick, and it hit me again today! I didn't go to weights, but they couldn't get into the weight room anyway, so I don't feel too bad :). Still went to practice. Ran to Yesco and back. 4 miles, Gary died again but the pace felt honest. I'm in desperate need of new shoes!!!! I'm still running in the volleyball ones. Coach said they look like shoes I should be painting or something in...not running in. They still suck but feel much better than my trainers! (They had over 700 miles on them...they were only supposed to last for 300 or 400!)

Still feeling kinda crappy. Thought I should rest today so that I don't drag this out another week. Hate missing runs, but this was probably best this time.

6 miles at 8:26. Out toward Bloomington on the dirt. Running by myself through the tunnel and everything is pretty sketchy sometimes!

Extension of Webb Hill plus a lap on the track to make it a full 6. 8:23/mile.

Bloomington Loop. 8:36/mile. The pattern I've noticed is that I lag a little bit after I hit 5, but these long runs will help fix that!

Trail run in Bloomington. Ran with Darian and had a lot of fun!

Easy 4. Brigham thought we'd be funny and turn around a little early to trick Darian, I love watching her get annoyed with us..well mostly with him! I got new shoes last night, they feel much better. Can't go wrong with Mizunos!

Debated running today since we had planned a long hike for our Preference Day Date, but I'm glad I did! I love running in the mornings, it gets me in the zone for some reason. 7 mile Church Loop (In front of Summit, past my Church, up River Road to 2450 and back home). 8:13/mile.  The hike went well, but I fell a lot because the trail was pretty icy in places! Darian did the same thing. We're pretty bruised! I've got a massive headache from one of my falls!

Today was kind of a weird day because our school schedule was messed up. For the most part, we all kinda did our own thing. I looped through Bloomington Hills, around Circle Park, Down Bloomington Hills Drive to Mr. D's, through Painted Desert, and back to the school. 8:32/mile. My shoes were driving me crazy, I had to stop in the middle and retie them because I did them way too tight and my feet got numb. It rained for the last half mile of my run, I love rain!!!

3 this morning with Coach and Darian. Right before we got back to the school, I wasn't watching where I was going and a tree branch totally ate my face. Good times.

 7 miles this afternoon.  Down to Webb Hill, 4x800 Hill repeats, and back to school. Felt good but definitely drained me. 5:52 to qualify for BYU in the 1600. I WILL do it, I'm not giving myself a choice. I need something cool like that to make up for the disappointing end to my XC Season with not making it to State and getting really sick at Nike.

Weights this morning. I was feeling pretty exhausted and couldn't lift much, so eventually I just ran the warm up route, did some dynamic stretches, and stretched a little more.

GREAT RUN THIS AFTERNOON!! I was surprised at how well I did after such a hard day yesterday.  Went down Bloomington Hills Drive onto River Road, across the bridge, then hooked onto the bike trail just before Riverside drive. Looped around Webb Hill, then did one lap on the track to get the full 8 in.  8:38/mile.  Probably the most mentally tough I've been since the season officially ended in October.  The rain always makes things feel more intense, too!  Me, Taylor, and Brianna went to Brianna's house to make sandwiches and cookies for wonderful Wednesday. Such a blast! All in all, it's been quite a great day.

Easy 3 in the morning with Darian, Coach, David, and Ginge.  I lagged behind a little for the last half, just trying to keep it easy. Felt pretty good.  It was super foggy this morning, I was surprised to drive to the school safely!  My right arch had been bugging me, but I rolled it out with a tennis ball last night and it felt fine today.

Afternoon Trail Run at the Bloomington BLM. 7 with Darian at 8:37/mile.  I felt pretty good and we had lots of fun! There was randomly a cow out there...

Weights got canceled this morning. I thought about going for an easy run by myself, but I think that a recovery morning was best for me! 4 this afternoon to YESCO and back.  Didn't bring Gary with me, but the pace felt pretty honest. I was really sore, which taught be a good lesson because last night was the only night this week that I didn't stretch or roll out my legs before bed.  Guess that what I'm doing is actually helping!

Went on a run after work today. Glad I saved it for the afternoon, because I really needed to unwind after a pretty crappy day of working. Ran from my house to the Chapel on 900 S. and back home for a total of 7 miles. Kept the first 6 nice and easy at 8:23/mile, then pushed the last mile and hit 6:48. Not quite what I was shooting for for the mile, but not bad considering the 6 mile warm-up and extreme pain in my calves! I'll just have to push a little harder next Saturday.

I'd been planning to begin a temporary job next week, but decided not to at the last minute.  For some reason I just felt sick about it! It would have required me to leave practice at 4:30 every day for three weeks, though, and now that I quit I'm realizing it wouldn't have been worth it! I'm getting enough hours at the Sno Shack to put gas in my car anyway. I'm making that 5:52 a priority!

Couldn't help but extend my morning run a little--the weather is BEAutiful!  Nice and easy run up to the farm fence on 2450 and back home.  When I was stretching in my room after, I was looking at a little stand in my room where I keep all of my medals and cards and bibs from my best races.  I noticed one with a 5K time of 23:27 and I was like why did I put that there?? And then I looked closer and saw that it was my State time Sophomore year. I was SO proud of that time back them. I almost got emotional thinking back to how far I've come. It's been worth every mile. 

Hiked around with my dad and little brother for awhile today, lots of fun! When we got back, I rode my bike to Little Valley Park for a change of scenery.  Total of 6 miles, random places for the first 3, then for the last 3 I ran the old Sophomore Year Region Course. Almost TOO many memories! Guess I'm just feeling sentimental today (big surprise). The run felt great, I just kinda got myself in a daze. 8:30/mile. Rode back home with the sun setting behind me. WONDERFUL DAY OFF!

No run or weights this morning...extra sleep felt good.

Track Season officially started this afternoon!!! I was honestly dreading it because I hate the chaos of boy-crazy freshman and the annoying sprinters. Warm ups took an hour!  But after that it wasn't bad! We did an easy 2 mile run to Hidden Valley, 5 200s with 200 recovery, 1 800 with an 800 recovery, and a 2 mile cool down. Hit the 200s at :43 and the 800 at 2:55 which actually really surprised me because it felt slower!

3 miles to the Spectrum. Ran with Josh McPhie and felt great!

Another variation on the Webb Hill extension. My hamstrings were a little tight, but I  felt pretty good! Not gonna lie though, there was one incline where I had to really fight the temptation to walk. Made it all the way, though! 8:27/mile. Weights after. 

First big speed workout of the season! 5x2 minutes hard with 2 minute recovery, 5x1 minute hard with 1 minute recovery, 5x30 seconds hard with 30 seconds recovery. One mile warm up and cool down.  It was hard to really get the legs moving like that again! Practically killed me, but I endured it pretty well.  I'll admit that it was slightly discouraging, though, because I'd be practically dying on some of the sprints and realize I was barely going at my mile pace if not slower.

Easy three along the Spectrum with Coach and Josh. I was pretty exhausted from staying out late last night at the Girl's Basketball game, so I just listened to them talk. Legs felt good, though!

 Easy 4 to YESCO and back. Yesterday I was driving down the freeway and saw a billboard that finally made me realize that YESCO is a sign company...I'd always wondered. I wasn't super tight, but very tired feeling! Probably a combination of lack of sleep and our first hard speed workout.  8:40/mile.

Ran up to Monica Olds's house and back. I really did not want to run tonight but am glad I brought myself to.  I ran without my Garmin and just kinda got in a daze. The sun set while I ran and it was just perfect! I need to do relaxed runs like this more often.  I've gotten so caught up in pacing, distance, mile times, and beating certain people that I've forgotten that I truly love running. Glad tonight helped remind me!

Easy three this morning. I was pretty far behind the main group, but they were going fast and I've got my easy morning pace and I just stuck with it! Felt really good. I could not fall asleep last night for some reason, but I don't feel too tired today..yet!

6 this afternoon on a Webb Hill Extension, plus a lap around the school to hit the full 6.  Ran with Coach and shared Special Ed stories, it's always easier to keep a good pace when you're a little distracted! 7:53/mile. Weights after.

No practice this morning, loved the extra rest!

Total of 7 this afternoon: 2 mile warm up, 3 thousands plus a 200 recovery, and a 3 mile cool down (supposed to be 2, but I wanted to hit 7 for the day since that's the mileage on the website!)  Hit the thousands at 3:57, 3:56, and 3:56. Coach had me shooting for 4:17, so I'm pretty dang proud of myself. He told me it looks like I might be "flirting" with a 5:40 5:45 mile time...I hope he's right!! But really, as long as it's under 5:52 so I qualify for BYU, I don't care too much, my focus is the 3200 m, I need to remember that!

Easy three with Darian this morning. Spectrum and back. I'm a little sore which surprises me because yesterday didn't feel too hard!

Seven out along the strip today.  Felt pretty good, but started to die off during the last two miles. I realized after the run that I didn't eat a 4th Period snack like usual, so maybe that explains it. 8:40/mile. Ran the first two with a few of the girls, then they turned around and Gianna stuck with me for another mile or so. Finished it off on my own. Weights after.

No practice this morning, but me and my husband were finally able to do our thing this morning since our place is FINALLY open again after being closed for cleaning for two weeks. 

Speed work this afternoon. Two mile warm up, 2x1 mile repeats, 4x200m repeats with 200m recovery, one mile cool down. Hit the first mile at 6:41 and the second at 6:37. The 200s were 40, 40, 41, 38. Calves were pretty sore, but I'll take care of it.

Easy 3 in the morning.

1 mile warm up, then 3 mile "Kenyan Run" where we ran in a straight line and tried to relax and focus on form.  I quite enjoyed this! It was hard to really meditate with Darian right in front of me, but I did my best!

6 miles toward Little Valley and back.  Ran without my Garmin so I could just try to relax and enjoy the run.  I think this is a good thing for me to do on Saturdays so I don't burn out too easily!  After the run, I had a fun-filled day of french toast, the Temple, and Lava Rock Sledding.  Then, a movie night with Kenzie. I love weekends!

Easy three to Spectrum and back.

Just before our run today, my Coach gave me my official result for Saturday's meet. Goal/BYU Qualifying Time: 5:52.00.  My time: 5:52.01.  Never in my life have I so badly wanted to swear! Fueled by frustration, I took off really fast on our run.  I stopped to use the bathroom, and Gi had just caught up to me when I finished, so we ran the last half together. 6 miles around Webb Hill at 8:09 pace (except the first half was much faster than that, so the last was probably quite a bit slower).  Weights after.  I wanted to be mad and throw a temper tantrum about my time, but that wouldn't do me any good. I decided to just use the anger to fuel the fire and blow that time out of the water at the Cedar Invite!

Easy 3 down to the bridge and back. Ran with Staci again.

Speedwork this afternoon!!! 2 mile warm up, 4x400s at 1:28, 3x400s at 1:27, and 1x400 all-out: 1:18.  All this was into the wind, so I'm pretty proud. 4x200s at :40 with 200m recovery jog. One mile cool down. Coach ran with our group today.  Me and Gi pretty much stuck together for the whole workout, we've been doing a great job of pushing each other.

Easy 3 in the morning to Spectrum and back. Ran with Ben and had fun talking!

Another easy 3 to the Spectrum in the afternoon. It really scared me because I banged my knee up in the computer lab today and actually bugged me a lot on the run. It was a little swollen. Weights after. Today was another crazy day like yesterday where I left the house at 5:45 am and didn't get back until 10:00 pm. Gotta love working, running, and going to school!

Since we had this meet today, I decided not to get up at 4:30 am to run before me and Jake did our thing.

Raced this afternoon! The wind was REALLY bad. I had a lot of fun watching the other races before mine. I think my highlight was listening to Darian and her mom talk to each other--they were hilarious! Watching Brigham do the high jump was a blast, too. Good memories.

They combined the Girls and Boys for the 3200. When we first started out, there was this boy running right at my hip and I couldn't decide if he was messing around, or trying to be nice and break the wind for me. Either way, I was bugged. I didn't want extra help or to have someone run with me as a joke. But two laps into the race, he got right behind me and started drafting off of me. I realized that this kid was really out of breath--he was actually trying! When I heard how hard he was breathing, I knew that I could drop him, so I did. It always feels good to chick someone! I probably ruined the kid's whole day. His parents were taking pictures, so he'll always have the memory of trying to draft off of a girl. I also beat one of the boys from our team. The time wasn't fast, but I'm okay with it because of the wind.

Worked a long shift at the Sno Cone booth at the Arts Festival today...no fun!  I saved the run for after work, knowing I'd want to unwind a little bit. Easy 6 on an extension of the Farm Road Loop.  Had to go back to work after the run.  Long day, so I'm super grateful for the run!  No Garmin, so I don't know my pace.

6 along 2450 S. and back.  2 easy, 2 hard, 2 easy.  Still no idea of my pace!  Felt good to get the heart pumping, though.

No school today because of Easter Break. Slept in a little and felt great! Easy 3 to Stone Cliff and back.  Good run, but felt a lot of pain in my right achilles/lower calf area.

Speed work out with the team this afternoon.  It was HOT!  2 mile warm up, 4 200s at :40, then 5 minutes at T pace--went 1200 meters. 2 mile cool down. Ran with Courtney and Lauren until the cool down, where I kinda did my own thing.  I noticed that I've gotten over my obsession with always being fastest in the work outs and have been really good about just hitting the times Coach expects. Hopefully it helps!

Easy three this morning with Court. Bridge and back. She brought this little water boiler into the locker room so we can eat oatmeal for breakfast now. So Happy!!

Awful race today!!! I felt so dizzy and tired, that's been happening a lot lately, which is way frustrating because I know I am one of the few people that actually do drink enough water for running it this heat.  I can't believe how bad my time was! 23 seconds slower than my PR. I haven't had a good race since Dixie, but luckily I can redeem myself in the 3200 tomorrow! I haven't ran it a whole lot this year, so I have plenty of room for a nice PR.

Time to bring myself back into the RunningBlog community! I was going to go back and fill in the miles from track season and summer running, but instead I'm just going to start over today. 

Life has changed a ton over the last few months! My track season had a disappointing ending when, out of nowhere, my mile times slowed down by at least twenty seconds.  I was constantly tired and dizzy.  I figured it was just burn out and tried to push through it.  Finally, Region came and after a horrible mile race, I tried to come back and do well in the two mile but ended up fainting with a lap and a half to go. This led to a series of blood tests.  At first, we found that I was low on iron as well as quite a few other essential vitamins and minerals.  The plan was that I take a month off of running and take some supplements.  When none of this helped, I was given another series of blood tests and on top of the anemia we found a combination of different blood glucose problems.  Things still aren't completely sure, but the official diagnosis for now is a mixture of Hypoglycemia and Pre-Diabetes.

This, along with many other discoveries, events, promptings, and gut-feelings led me to decide not to run in college.  It's not that I was quitting because I was realizing that it would be hard and that I'd have to be very specific in my new lifestyle to be able to run so much and keep my health in check.  It's just that this whole experience finally humbled me enough to listen to my gut that had been warning me for months that running for Dixie State wasn't right for me.  I won't go through all the emotions that came with this decision since I posted all about it on www.freshman19.blogspot.com, but I will say that it was unbelievably hard for me since I knew that I could be successful on the team and that it was something I had dreamed of since I was a child.

After deciding not to run, I realized that there really wasn't a whole lot for me at Dixie State and after a lot of pondering, I decided to go to SUU.  I ran with the high school team all summer and had a blast.  Now, I'm up here in Cedar and really liking it.  Until today, I've only been running 3 to 4 miles a day since I got here last Thursday.  But with the soft rain and great weather today, I decided to go a little longer and hit 6 miles. 9:31/mile.  Nice and slow, but extremely enjoyable.  Even though I'm not going to run on a college team, I know that I will always love running and will hopefully have a lot of success in road races, Summer Games, etc!

What a crazy week it's been! I started classes and work on Monday. I have 5 classes right in a row, then work an eight hour shift.  It hasn't been awful, but i know that I won't be able to keep it up when classes are in full swing, so I asked my boss to bring me down to part-time status (that's what the manager told me it would be anyway!)

4 miles today on the Main Street Dorm Loop (I guess it's time to start naming the runs I do up here!).  Not sure on the pace, but I know it was slow. Have not been putting in enough miles, it's time to get back into shape.

I was down in St. George today, which was SO much fun!  I was happy to see everyone.  I ran 3 with Courtney this morning and we had fun catching up on life and reminiscing on Senior Year Cross Country Memories.

Today finally did me in.  I jogged over to Cedar High and ran a tiny part of the course.  I tried kicking in on the backwards 300 on the track just like in the race and I just about killed myself.  I was so dizzy and sick that I had to lay on the grass for a few minutes, then walk around before I could start jogging back to my apartment.  My back felt like it was on fire and I had to stretch for a minute to pop it.  The worst part is the pace I was going for those 300 meters--6:30/mile.

I was furious! I couldn't believe that running 300 meters at that pace killed me when that pace is much slower than my old 3200 meter pace.  I am SO incredibly sick of feeling dizzy and sick all the time! I haven't felt normal since the Dixie Track Invite back in April.  A couple weeks ago, I finally posted in detail about the health problems I've been having, but today I decided I'm done ignoring it and that if I want to race again, I need to face this problem head on and do what the doc told me to.  I'm going to meet with a dietician this week to see what other changes I can make to keep my blood sugar in check.  I am going to start doing core work again so that my back stays strong and in place.  I chose a race that is several months away and I am going to create a training plan, ease back into my training, and have some success.  I decided that even though I have all these issues, I am still way too young to say that my best racing years are already behind me. 

Here's to several more years of improving, and a lifetime of running!  I love it too much to let any of this crap stop me.

Day one of my new start!  Before now, I was running 3 miles or less about three times a week at a 10:00/mile to 11:00/mile average.  No warm up, no stretching, no core, rarely a Garmin.  I made up courses as I went along, and then guessed the distance or measured it in my car.

Today, I tried pushing the pace a little bit instead of just putting along.  I got pretty dizzy, but never to the point where I thought that I would pass out.  It was hard to try to keep pushing the pace while feeling so awful, but at the same time it felt so amazing to be out there pushing again!  To be dripping sweat and pushing through on raw determination and adrenhaline.  To hit a downhill and feel like I was flying.  Even with the pain, it was so amazing.  I wish that, back when I didn't have to deal with any of the diabetes, hypoglycemia, and anemia stuff, I would have realized how great I had it.  I wish I would have realized that shin splints and tendonitis really aren't that bad.  I wish I would have done a better job of just soaking every mile in and realized how lucky I was!  But, I know that I am still lucky because, despite everything, I CAN STILL RUN. 

5k distance on Freedom--Eccles loop. 28:09 total time and 8:55/mile average.  Not great considering the fact that this exhausted me and that six months ago my easy pace was a full minute/mile faster than that, but it is a definite improvement from where I've been lately.  I am going to keep running that distance and pace everyday for the next couple of weeks until it starts to become "easy" again, and then I will try slowly building up a little bit of mileage.

Day Two: When I woke up this morning, I was sore. It was amazing! I had finally been able to push through the dizziness enough to run hard enough to actually make myself sore.  It felt great! (In a weird way of course.)

Since I don't work until later today, I decided to do my run after class.  One of my roommates asked if it bothered me to run in the heat. I had to laugh as I told her how, in a few hours, my old team would be running in 105+ degree weather.

My run was great!!!  Okay, not entirely.  The first mile and a half were rough and I was feeling slightly dizzy, but not at all as bad as normal.  At the turn around point, I stopped for a minute to gather myself a bit--my back was killing me.  When I started running again, the heat reminded me of the XC days, and I had an incredible adrenhaline rush.  I pushed even harder than yesterday and finished my 3 miles (out and back toward Wal-Mart) in 25:43 with an 8:33/mile average.  Even better than yesterday!  Yes, I know it's not great, especially when I look back on where I was before all this crap happened, but I am trying to just keep looking forward on what I am accomplishing now despite my health issues instead of what I accomplished when I felt okay.  And honestly, an 8:33/mile average really isn't far off from what I ran before!  The only difference is that today felt a hundred times harder than it did back then.

When I got back, I immediately got a little bit of water and then drank a small bottle of chocolate milk to get my blood sugar back up.  This helped the recovery process a ton, I feel great right now! 

Giving myself a little bit of a push and running in the heat helped me feel in touch with a part of me that I was worried was lost.  Now, since I started struggling with this health stuff, I have had a few arbitrary days where I've felt great like this, so I'm trying not to raise my hopes up, but I am honestly starting to think that regaining my speed and strength despite my health problems won't be as hard as I originally thought.  Today's run made me hungry for some long runs, but I know that I need to get in a week or two of consistent 3s before I start to build up some mileage. 

Day 3: Met with a dietician (my nutrition teacher) this morning to ask his opinion on a few things.  He ended up giving me a whole bunch of information and offered to continue meeting with me regularly, write me a diet plan, run a lot of different tests on me, etc.  It was awesome! He told me that he could see the sadness in my eyes when I talked about how much I love and miss running and that he could understand my frustration.  He seemed to legitimately feel bad for me, but it's not his pity I'm after, it's his help and information.  Anyway, he told me that he thinks that the Hypoglycemia is a definite problem that needs to be faced with care and that some of the information I've heard and assumptions I've made about my diet have been inaccurate, which is why I've been feeling so crappy.  He's had me start writing down everything I eat, what time I eat, and how I feel.  He also said that I've overlooked the Anemia side of things, and that he wants to run a few more tests on me to see what I'm still deficient in and if I should start taking an Iron Supplement again.  He thinks that the Anemia stuff is more serious than I've been thinking.  But, he told me that with a lot of effort and monitoring, I should be able to race to my full potential again. What beautiful words to hear!!!

Just after the meeting, I went for my run.  3.2 miles around campus and up to Main Street.  I felt super great at first, but got pretty dizzy when I got about 1.75 miles into it and slowed down quite a bit.  When I was about .7 miles from the apartment, I picked it up quite a bit despite my dizziness and finished with an 8:30/mile average.  Even better than yesterday even though I felt worse!

Adrenhaline+Determination>Dizziness.

Day 4: 5k distance on Freedom--Maine loop.  Felt great at first, but started feeling dizzy.  Looked down at my Garmin as soon as I felt dizzy and it was 1.77 miles into it...I'm finding a pattern here! Same thing as usual, kicked in on pure adrenhaline. Today, I finished with an 8:10/mile average. Great improvement over the last few days, that's definitely something to be proud of!! It's good to be able to go at my old easy pace, but the problem is that it's not easy anymore.  I know I'll get to that point, though.

I was very, very dizzy after! I collapsed on the floor of my apartment, and I think it scared the living daylight out of my roommates!  Logically, I knew that I should have called it a day right then and there and taken time to rest.  However, me and Jake had plans to play pickleball, so I gave myself half an hour to recover and get some food, then played.  It was so much fun! I didn't tell him how dizzy I felt, I wanted him to think that he legitimately beat me by 8 points each time. ;)

Day 5: Took the day off from running today.  I'm up in Salt Lake with my family to go to Lagoon, and after my scare yesterday I didn't think it was smart to go running and then try to walk around the park all day since I passed out at Disneyland earlier this summer without even running at all that day.  Oh...good memories! Haha. Well, it turns out the precautions weren't necessary, since I ended up having an episode anyway. I got super, super dizzy and was sure I was about to pass out, but ended up being able to lay in the car and get some food in me before anything too extreme happened.  I wanted to stay at the park and just lay on the grass so my family could keep doing things, but my dad insisted that they take me back to the apartment.  I hope that my episodes the last couple of days aren't a sign of things to come!

Day 6: Last week, the Dietician had me start writing down everything I eat, when I eat it, and how I feel.  I'm continuing that for a few more days, and today I started the next step--wearing an armband all day, everyday, for the next week to see how many calories I burn throughout the day so that we can write a specific meal plan for me.  Luckily, we're doing this at the same time that my Nutrition class is doing it, so no one has to know that I have anything going on.  Brilliant!  It feels good to be taking steps to controlling these issues.

3 miles today down toward Wal-Mart and back.  Very windy!--8:28/mile.  I felt really good today! Very little dizziness, which is an awesome sign!  I was a little sore, though, and my back was hurting more than normal.  However, I'll take back issues over blood sugar problems any day!!

Extremely sick today.  Couldn't even get out of bed, let alone go for a run. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

Still really sick.  I am extremely dizzy, have a huge headache, can't stop coughing, and have a really raw throat.  I'm so frustrated!  I was finally starting to feel like I could start going more than three miles, but I think I'm going to have to wait another week now.  As if my blood issues didn't already make me sick enough! :)

When I woke up, I was finally feeling better and felt like I had so much energy, but when I actually got out of bed and started walking around, I felt SO dizzy.  Since I was sick and didn't have much of an appetite, I didn't eat enough over the last two days, which obviously isn't good for my Hypoglycemia.  Instead of running as soon as I was ready, I ate some breakfast, then relaxed for a little while so the food would hit my system.  It helped with the dizziness, so I thought I'd be okay to go for a good run.

I was coughing from the start, and about half a mile into it, I had to stop completely to get through a coughing fit.  I tried to keep going, but was still coughing a ton, so I cut the run short.  I was so angry!  The weather was perfect and I had a free morning and running felt SO great that I wanted to do it forever!  Oh well, at least I got a little bit of a run in, it's better than being in bed all day again!  Two miles at 9:37/mile.

"Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, start all over again." (Again)

Wow! This month has been absolutely insane. Even though my calendar looks empty, I have been consistent with getting a couple miles in about 3 or 4 times a week, but I haven't necessarily been in training.

On Saturday, October 6, I came in from a 6 mile run and took my headphones off just in time to hear President Thomas S. Monson announce that the age for female LDS Missionaries would be dropped to 19 years old. Crazy! By the end of that day, I knew that I was to serve a mission.  Papers were filled out, appointments were made, and, before I knew it, I received my call to the Peru Lima North Mission!  I am SO excited about it. 

As I waited for the call to come, I was not very focused on my training because I figured that I would be gone before the big race in February.  However, I do not report to the MTC until March 27, so I am ready to get back into the game!  I have not been able to run at all for the past week or so because I just had my Wisdom Teeth out, but today I was finally able to hit the road again.  I am ready to start over one last time as I get training for one last big race before I head below the Equator.

Day One: Just three miles today towards Wal-Mart.  Felt a little sick to my stomach, but was mostly good. 8:57/mile. Not bad after a long time off.