Patrick's Blog

Today at Cross Country was a weird workout. We started with the usual two laps warm up then group stretching. Then we jogged over the the hill on the soccer field and we did 6 hills. We started the hills by going halfway down the field and starting there. Scott did these with us.... GOOD JOB SCOTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So we sprinted until we got to the hill then we had to pick it up once we got to the hill to get some strength and just to loosen up my legs. Until and and during the hills I was feeling great. I progressively got faster on each one. My first was my slowest and my last was my fastest, just as I did yesterday on the strides. So from that we jogged over to our stuff and got a drink of water and then went on th actual run. So went were doing the Shriners Drinking Fountain run. We left the track and went up to guardsman, then on that until the U football stadium. Then we entered the campus until it was over then we went down some creepy hill and went in some creepy ally for about a fourth of a mile. Then we turned up a hill, went down a hill, went up another hill and finally down another hill and we were there. I managed to stay with the fast group the entire way there but when we got there I was feeling like I was going to puke. So I took a few sips of water and decided to go slower. So the group left with out me with out me noticing so I had to go faster to catch up to them but that made me feel even sicker. So I got to the group and we came back the same way. But they were going too fast and I didn't want to puke so I slowed down until Abigail caught up to me and I ran the rest of the way with her. I managed to stay up with the fast group until about the U football stadium though. Hopefully tomorrow is better because today was a very bad day for me. Abigail and I was talking about different ways for not feeling sick and we were trying them like the Granny walk at running pace, deep breathing, hip shaking, etc. Overall today sucked. For an even 6 miles when we got back to the track we had to do a lap around the track so we did and that was all I could do with out passing out or puking my fries up that I had just before the run:) Thats probably why I felt so crappy during the run today......

Today for Cross Country practice we had the annual team meeting before the season to discuss the future plans and get all of the grading stuff for next year. So we went on a short run after that because it was getting late and we are building up our base mileage. So we did the run to the graveyard and do two laps around that. I felt really good going there and about half way through the first lap but then my quads started to get really tired so I kept slowing down. Taylor, Bill, and Tomy kept yelling and encouraging me to catch up to them to just stay at there pace. I caught back up to them just starting the second lap in the graveyard. I don't know if they slowed down or I just sped up but I did eventually catch up to them and stuck with them the rest of the run. All day today my calf's have been really sore probably because of the hills yesterday because they havn't taken hills like that since Footlocker about. So my legs were sore today but I did manage to push through it. My quads were getting really tired going up the hills so that shows that I need to run more hills or push through the hills because I have basically lost my strength in them which sucks because I spent all season last year trying to build it up. Then we ran back the same way, we progressively kept getting faster on the way back which is weird because I was in front of everyone. My goal was to catch up to the group only doing one lap, which we did. That motivated me to go a bit faster also because I like looking and feeling fast:) Hopefully I can push it through this week and get my base strength back before we start to do the trails and things because my legs are hurting pretty bad and have been all week since we did that seven miler on Tuesday.

This morning I woke up abnormally early so I decided to go for a little run this morning. So I went from my house over to 21st south, down to 15th east and back the same way. It was a easy shake out run for this morning. Then I came home and my dad made me do 15 arm curls. Those sucked! But during the run my legs did hurt and they are still way sore after right now so hopefully they calm down for Cross Country practice today after school.

Today at Cross Country practice we had a few new kids come. Its cool that kids are starting to take an interest in long distance running. But for the workout we left Easts teacher parking lot, ran down to Liberty Park and ran to the drinking fountain and met up there. Then we did a lap of firemen with the new kids. They kept up with us great. Good job guys because the first day is hard. But then after the lap we got a drink of water, met up again and stretched. Then we jogged back up the east. We had the new kids be in front of us to push them and to keep them running while we are going up that huge hill from 9th and 9th all of the way up till east. But they did it and so did we.The overall distance was 4.3 miles of pretty much continuous running and for the new kids that is really good. My legs were feeling great while I was running towards Liberty Park, then when we stopped they hurt a bit but then I stretched and it went away. During the firemen they did not hurt at all either. But when we stopped to get water they started to hurt pretty bad but then I just stretched a ton and the pain went away. Then when we were done at the school I could feel the effects of that hill on my quads really bad and on my calf's pretty bad also. Hopefully that just means that I need to strengthen them up again because otherwise I have no idea what is going on. But mainly during the running it is fine until I stop and then start up again or when I go up huge hills or go for more miles then I am used to. 

This morning I got up extra early before the last day of school when our teachers are taking role!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But otherwise I got up and left my house ran down to 21st south and then turned right to 18th east about and turned around and ran back. My legs were feeling really good this morning but my right shoulder on my arm was feeling really heavy and weak. Probably because my dad just bought a door pull up, arm curls, and other pulling up arm things; they are really fun.

Today for Cross Country practice we are still building up our base mileage so we all stayed as a group. We did the flag pole to flag pole run. We started in the East teachers parking lot ran up to 13th east, over to the street that the Pie Pizzeria is on and up that until we got to the flag pole. My legs were feeling really good until this point. So we went back the same way and ran past East and over to 17th south or Westminster college. There is a flag pole there and we stopped at the flag poles and stretched even if we weren't supposed to. So I was leading the group and going at a 9 minute pace then sped up to a 7 minute pace, then Bill told Dakota and Tomy to go and show me up. Tomy did but Dakota kept trying to pass me but I kept getting ahead of him and I finished ahead of him. We were racing the whole way back. Giovanni was staying with me the entire run, he is pushing hard and staying right up with me. Great jog Giovanni. Then I finished right behind Tomy. This run felt really good and my quads started to hurt a little bit on the final stretch before the final light before East and they made me want to slow down but I couldn't because I didn't know how far behind me Dakota was so I kept pushing through it. Overall it was a really good run for me. 

Today for Cross Country practice it was a horrible day for me! The work out was run to Sugar House Park and go in it a little bit until we got to 2.5 miles and then we turn back and go back the same way. Me, tomy, Bill, and the new boy ran a little bit past everyone else so they left us so my group had to catch up to them again.We stopped also to get water. So I started out the run fine at the front of the pack which is what I am trying to do to get faster but going back was painful. My quads hurt going up the hill and I felt like I was sprinting the entire way back trying to catch up to everyone. When we got to about 13th south Abigail broke off and so did Susannah and I stayed with them. I tried to stay with the other group but for some reason I just couldn't. I don't know why but it was a overall very painful run. So the run for me was probably necessary but it was supposed to be a short easy run but it wasn't. 

Today at Cross Country practice we met at Liberty Park and did a five miler. We waited for Bill for a little while then we found out he was having a ton of car troubles so we just did the workout on our own. Susannah, Abigail, Sarah, and I started with a mile going out a half mile then coming back the same way while waiting for Bill and he wasn't here yet. So we did 2 laps in the wood chips then the same mile thing going out a half mile then coming back the same way. I started the workout with Kevin, Natalie, Susannah, Abigail, and Amanda and I finished it with RJ because Natalie, Kevin and I just progressively kept getting faster. My goal was to finish it with RJ. Then I came home and did my core. I did pull ups, and 2 other things on the pull up machine that my dad bought, 3 sets of 1 minute planks, 3 sets of 20 crunches, and then 3 sets of 45 second leg lifts. My abs hurt really bad right now.!!!

Today for Cross Country we started at Sugarhouse Park. We did the cemetery loop. So we exited the park and ran up to 17th east and we took the first right after the freeway. Then we took the first right, followed that street until Atkin. Then we took that street all of the way up until it T's off. Then we took all of the T's going left right left right left until we got to 33rd. Then we turn on Melbourne until some street, maybe Alden or something. Then we turn onto 18th then back onto 17th and back around to Sugarhouse Park. We went about maybe a quarter around the park to make it 6 miles then we turned around and went to the drinking fountain. Once we got back to about Highland High School Gio started to really pick it up and start to really push. I decided to stay with him to try to push him and keep him at that pace. But he couldn't stay but he did do really good. Then Kevin replaced him and really picked up the pace at the end of the run, it was hard to try to stay with him. Kevin is really good. Then when we got back to the cars we started once again the 3 sets of 10 push ups and the 3 sets of 20 crunches. Then when I got home I did my 3 sets of 45 second leg lifts and my 3 sets of one minute planks. Overall todays run went really good for everybody. Everybody did it non stop which is good and they learned one of the most confusing runs ever. My toes did hurt throughout the run so I tried not to be on my toes as much as I possibly could but they did hurt through the entire thing. I don't know whats wrong with them, they have hurt all through track season then they stopped for a bit but now there hurting once more. But besides that my legs and everything was great. It was a good run.

At Cross Country we had a easy work out today because a lot of us are racing tomorrow. So we started with a lap around Liberty Park as a warm up. Then we stretched and got water. Then we did 10 strides that were about .07 each. Then we did another lap as a cool down then stretching to make sure we aren't sore tomorrow. But today I was really sore; my "Pockets" hurt, my calves were sore, and my quads were tight. It was just a sore day for me today. Then I came home and I did my push ups, crunches, planks, and leg lifts. Then I stretched for a final time. Tonight I am going to take a 15 minute ice bath before I go to bed.

This morning I had the Judgesrun 5k. I started with a three fourths of a mile warm up. Then I went to the starting line to get a good spot so I could have a good start. There I met up with Scott, Cloyde, and Kelsey and we stretched. So the gun went off and I had a decent start. My first mile was roughly 6:45ish but I wasn't sure. The 2 mile mark was 14 minutes flat. By the 2.5 mile mark I was in 7th place overall and the next group was not too far ahead of me. But at the third to last up hill 5 people, including Scotts dad came up and passed me. It made me furious but since they had longer legs they could go up the hill faster than I could. When I saw the finish line I really started to pick it up and I managed to pass one of the people who passed me but right  before the finish line he repassed me and it ticked me off a ton! But my goal for this race was to just medal, which I did. Its my first actual running medal that I have earned not including the ones I found in a tree or the complimentary ones you get for the longer races. Then after the awards and the complemantary breakfast they give you when you finish the race. I ran home which was about another three fourths of a mile to finish it out at roughly 4.6. I thought my time was pretty good taking into account that most of this race was up hill and it's the first race of the season. By the next few races I will be where I should be at this time in the year. Which is under 20 minutes always. But for today my time is good.

Today I decided to go on my own run. So I went from my house over to 21st, down to 17th over to 27th east I think. Then down to 13th south and stayed on 13th south till I got to 49th east. Or I ran to my grandmas house. Then I came home and did my crunches, push ups, planks, leg lifts, weights, calf raises and holding my knee up for a minute thingy.

This morning since I am going to St. George with peer court I couldn't go to Cross Country practice. So I went on my own run. I went out from my house and did the 2.5 mile loop and that brings me right to sugarhouse park so I went in the park and did a lap on the road to make it an even 4 miles. Then I ran home. When I got home I did my crunches, push ups, planks and leg lifts. The run felt good to get it done in the morning but my knee did hurt for about the first mile. Then it started to warm up. I am hoping that it isn't serious because it has been happening for a few days. My toes felt great though.

Later when Tomy and I got to St. George we went for a run so we wouldn't have to go as much in the mornings when we are on vacation. So we went down to the weight room. Since someone was on the good treadmill I went on the bad one so the distance wasnt working as well so I just ran for thirty minutes at 6.5 pace because that I would assume would be a total of three miles. Then we went up to our room and did our leg weights.

In the morning here in St. George we went for a little run before breakfast. So we went out from the hotel on 9th South I think it is, then over to like 13th south then we hopped on a trail head and used tomy's Garmin to calculate 2 more miles but it didnt work because the trail was closed about 200 meters into it so we hopped the fence and got on the highway and took that until we got to 1.25 miles then the street ended. So we decided to turn around and go out away from the Hotel the other way to get the other miles but we didn't because we had to go to the bathroom really bad so we stopped at the Mcdonalds and went to the bathroom but by this time it was 6:40 and we had to be at breakfast by 7 so we went back.

Then at night we went down to the weight room after we went swimming. But when we were in the pool doing Chicken Wars I either pulled something in my neck or my wisdom teeth are growing in but my jaw really hurts. So I did the last 1.5 miles really slow so I wouldn't be bouncing as much. But it hurts really bad and I have no idea what is wrong with it. So we didn't do weights this time today because it just hurt to bad to move my had at all.

Today when we got home from St. George I went for a run before watching 127 Hours........ Disturbing movie by the way! But any how so I went from my house up to the street just before Clayton Middle School, turned down that and stayed on that till it T's off to 17th east and then staying on 17th east until 21st south. When I got to 21st south I felt good and my Jaw and tooth wasn't hurting at all at this point so I went into Sugarhouse Park and did a lap inside that on the road. Then I came home by going on 21st south up to 19th east and turning into my house. I felt good throughout this run and my knee was what was really feeling good. Then I came home and did my core before watching the horrendous movie 127 Hours.

So today I woke up totally expecting to go to my First XC practice of the season. I was sadly mistaking. Since at the Peer Court conference the director was sick, near every kid was having symptoms of being sick and since my jaw was hurting my mom went into total MOM mode and thought that was a symptom so I couldn't go, I had to stay home and rest in the morning. I didn't listen to her and I went on my own run. So I no further than a 400 away from my house my mom calls me and says we have to go and mow the grandmas lawn and I have to come home. So I did a half mile in the morning. Then I go to my first Grandmas house and finish mowing before my sister is done weeding and my dad is done trimming. So I ask my dad if I can go for a 15 minute run to get 2 more miles in for the day. He said yeah so I go out from my grandmas and since I run there all of the time I know where the mile markers are and the first one from her house is directly at the light before Cottonwood Complex. So going there I really wanted to push so I got there in 6 minutes and like 4 seconds. I didn't look at my watch very carefully. Most of that was uphill or flat. Then coming back my dad said as soon as I hit the old folks home to start and push to a sprint or progressively become a sprint. I tried this to see if I could and I did it. It felt good because I progressively kept getting faster each block that I passed and I got back at 11:59. Something. That is a knew PR for me in the 2 mile. But some of it was downhill and everything else was flat. But it is a good mental thing knowing that I can do that. Then I got home right when my parents and sister where done with there stuff. Then I go to my other grandmas house and mow her lawn. I finished with that early also so I decided to go on another run. She lives on a hill that is steeper than poop out hill at footlocker. So I thought it would be good to do a mile of that. My dad and I measured around her block and it was .51 of a mile which is good in case I take a corner short or something. So I did 1 mile of that hill or 2 of the laps around the block. I really felt good at that. My first half mile was 3:25 which was way too slow so I decided to really push the second one and it was 2:58 which is better for that hill and I took no break in between the two. Then I came home and went out .75 of a mile to Sugarhouse Park and came back the same way. When I got back I did my core- Push ups, crunches, leg lifts, wall sits, calf raises, holding my knee up for a minute thingy, and planks. When I was coming back from Sugarhouse Park my legs felt like Lead probably because of all of the off and on running I did today. But other than that I felt really good.

This morning I meant to wake up early and go running in the nice cool morning with Highlands XC team..... That failed. So I went in the heat of the day at mid-day. So I did the 2.5 mile loop and ending at Sugarhouse Park and doing a lap on the road inside the park. I started with an 11 minute first mile which is horrible then I finished the entire run in 35 minutes and something seconds so it was a huge pace pickup today. But before I entered the park I met up with my friend Jayden who goes to Highland and we talked for like 10 minutes:) so I was actually gone for 45 minutes. But this run sucked sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much. My legs felt like lead, my knees hurt, my muscles were sore, and I was dyeing of heat. When the run was finally over I came home and did my core while I was watching Cold Mountain for my APUSH summer project. 

So today was my first ever 2011 Cross Country morning workout and it was a long one. I went to the advanced group that met earlier to do a longer run with the varsity people. So we met at Sugarhouse Park and did the Cemetery loop. I started out good staying up with the fast people like Tomy and Dylan for the first 2 miles about then I started to taper off and I decided to go with Amanda so I knew the run and to have her pace me. I was feeling really good until about the mile 4 spot and I got a huge cramp in the calf so I stopped and stretched it out because I knew we were doing strides after this and I didn't want it to hurt during those. And from then on it hurt a ton so when I got back to Sugarhouse Park I stretched a ton. Then I did the extra .27 or whatever it was to get the whole 6 miles of that. By this time I wasn't tired just in a ton of pain. My neck hurt and my calf really hurt. Then we got into our Newbies group. I was with Amanda, Tania, and Tess. They really aren't newbies so we meshed a group with Natalie. I was running down to Fairmont park with Natalie and her new freshman and they were all really nice. When we got to Fairmont park it was 1.5 miles there. So we got there and we stretched a bit, by this time my neck was really hurting but finally my calf had calmed down a bit. While we were at the park we did 8 100 meter strides. I felt really good on those. During each one I got a bit faster so by the last one I was almost winning. Between each one we had a minute recovery so I decided to look for four leaf clovers. Which I found one. Remind me to bring it Bill. So then we stretched again when we were done with those for a little while like two minutes and we jogged back. I jogged back with Natalie for a little while until me and a new freshman girl broke away from them. Her name was Jesse. She got tired and had to walk a tiny bit but then I got her jogging again and she jogged the rest of the way. Great job Jesse! Then when we got back to Sugarhouse Park we did a circuit. This is 45 seconds of Burpees, sprint 50 or however long it was, 45 seconds of jumping jacks, sprint, squats, sprint, mountain climbers, then sprint. We finished with 10 miles for the day. Then I did my core and weights. Overall my legs were exhausted after today but going to the advanced workouts is what I need to do. The other workouts are to easy otherwise.

Today at Cross Country we didn't have an advanced workout before everyone else! YAY. So we all met at 8 at Sunnyside park. The workout was run down to the gully and do 2.5 laps for the advanced group as a warm up. Then run back. I started the run out with Tomy and Natalie but then they just kept picking up the pace so I finished it with Amanda. When we got back to the park my legs were killing a ton. It felt like they got hit by a car. My knees were sore and my quads were really sore. Especially during those laps in the gully. So we stretched a little bit waiting for people to get back, when they didn't get back for a little while Emily had some people go back to the gully and retrieve them. In the meantime we did a lap where we would be doing the fartlek. So after stretching we did 3 one minute on's of arm swings. Then we did the fartlek. It was 5 one minute on and 5 one minute off. I felt good during those, my legs eventually warmed up. All of the new kids started really fast for the first one and eventually died and I just progressively got faster each one and passed two people each time I was on. Then I did 2 laps of recovery thinking we had another thing to do. Which we didn't so Emily said just go do a lap cooldown and I'll be at six for the day. Which I did and I was. Then I came home and did my crunches, push ups, planks, and leg lifts. My legs hurt probably from yesterdays workout and my back was also sore. But nothing really serious. Then I did a 15 minute ice bath to finish out the day. But for a run that doesn't have many miles in it, it was a really painful run for me today.

Today at cross country practice we met at liberty park. Since I had to put my phone in Amanda's car we were late getting to the group so everyone started in front of us. We were able to catch up to almost half of the people including some of the experienced people. So we did a lap warm up and that was it. Then we jogged over to the hill by the pond. We did 6 of running up the hill around some pole then back up the hill and that was one. We did that 6 times but I think Taylor and Tomy counted wrong so I actually think we did 7 but oh well. Then we were at 3 miles. So the advanced group was supposed to go and finish out to 7 miles. So as the newbies went right the advanced went left so we would cross them. While I was running I realized I was already at 16 miles and I need 35, I don't want to do too much one day and have to only do like 4 the rest of the week. So instead of doing 7 miles I did 6. During the hills my goal was to be in the top people to make sure I am still on Varsity, I finished right behind Natalie. In the third boy position. That made me feel really good. So for the cooldown Sarah and I went running through the sprinklers first and then noticed everyone was gone so we went on the cool down. We did 2 laps on the trail thing in the park. We caught up with Amanda and Abigail and they were like 70 meters ahead of us. At the drinking fountain we stopped and got water. Then we finished out the mileage with Abigail and again Amanda was like 50 meters ahead of us and we also caught her again. Overall my legs felt really good today, except during the hills I felt incredibly sick like I was going to puke but that is probably from I haven't done hills in a long long time. But on the last lap of the cool down my lower back and hips were a little sore but thats because of tiredness I think. Overall a pretty good day. 

Today since we didn't have a scheduled Cross Country practice I decided to create one. I texted a group of people to meet at 8 at the JCC trail. So Amanda showed up and we waited for a little while but no one else showed up, we decided to go out and up the trail.We no later got in the trail about 200 meters up, and there was like a river going right over it. For the first mile the trail was totally flooded. It was quite the adventure going over the rivers and around them. It was a really good strength work out to get good at climbing through rivers. When we got passed the huge hill we decided to turn around because the heat was getting to us and it was getting late. We went back the same way. When we got back to all of the flooded areas they were even higher than when we first went by. When we were going down the trail we decided to count them, there was 14 flooded rivers we had to climb over just in one mile. So in total I not only ran but I climbed that mountain a bit 28 times. It was loads of fun!!!! Then when I got home I did my crunches, push ups, and other core. Then I stretched for a little while because nothing hurt during this run and I liked it so I am trying to stay as loose as possible.

Today since once again we didn't have cross country practice I went on my own run. I woke up early and took my ipod. I went down to Sugarhouse Park and since I had to do 7 miles I decided to do the cemetery loop. I started out the run from my house and I was going at a pretty good pace but then when I got to the light on 17th east and 21st south my legs were already exhausted. So I went a bit slower and as the run progressed I got faster. So by the time I was on Imperial I was going back at a good pace. I did the entire run (including lights) in 56 minutes so that means I really picked it up when my legs were getting their energy back. While I was running and listening to my ipod I was watching my feet and I was noticing that I was running on the side on my left foot. I think it is time for me to get new shoes because on they bottom they are pretty warn out. Overall this was a really good run today for me, I felt like I was pushing and I knew where I was going. I have not done my core yet because as soon as i got back I had to watch Dinosaur Train and then I found out I was going to the arts festival. I will do it later tonight though. During the run it was hot but nothing hurt which was nice for a change. It was a great day to run for me.

Today since there was no cross country practice and I only had to finish out my mileage for the week and only had to do one mile, I decided to do a mini boot camp. I started out with the one mile run as sort of a warm up, I ran to Clayton Middle School and back. Then I went over to the wall and did 3 sets of 1 minute step ups with 30 second standing recovery. Then I went to the backyard and did wall sits on my basketball hoop. I did those for 45 seconds on because I have not done those in a while and those were tiring me out. I had a 20 second standing recovery for those. Then I did 3 sets of one minute arm swings with 30 second recovery. Then the calf raises 50 on each foot 3 times. Finishing out with the usual crunches, push ups, and leg lifts. I felt good during this because it was nice to only run one mile then come back and do some strength. When I was done I stretched a bit and now my hips hurt. As does a lot of other muscles in my leg.

Today for Cross Country practice we did have a early morning advanced group run. So I got to use my new Garmin and wear my new racing flats:) We met at sugarhouse park and went out on the field up the hill and and stayed in the park till we got to Highland High school. Then we turned on 17th and stayed on that till 27th. Then we stayed on that passed the light 3 blocks not 2. Turned right then turned left after like one block. Then from there it was all a progressively larger hill to the finish line. I didn't notice it at first but when we almost got to Tanner Park my Garmin was set for only a 3 mile run so it turned off after the 3 mile mark but I remembered Bill saying one mile to go at the 2.3 spot so I guessed when we got there it was at 3.3 miles. On the street just before the park by the highway or freeway on ramp there was a corner store and my mom used to own that building as a consignment store so that was cool to see that again. Then we went back the same way. I stayed with the fast people all the way until we got to the park then my legs gave out but it was nice to know that I can stay with them. We got there in 24:31 and came back in 19:42 so that was a pretty good jump on times. Going there was all uphill and coming back was all down hill but oh well it was a really good run. It ended at 6.8 miles. Then we met up with the Newbies and we started with a grass loop of 2 miles then dynamic stretching. During the stretching my legs felt like led but it was nice to think we weren't going to do circuits,,,,,, I was sadly mistaking. We did only one set of circuits though. After that I was exhausted and we were at 9 miles exactly because after the grass loop we ran to the drinking fountain to get the .10. Then not to my knowledge we did another lap. The newbies went around the pond for a cool down and the advanced group did a lap around the park staying on the road. To get the extra 1.5 miles. Then I came home and took a shower and going to get my LICENSE!!!!!!!!!! YAY then I did my core- Crunches, Push ups, and leg lifts, and going side to side to work on the sides of my stomach or whatever that is called. Overall my legs felt really good during the advanced group run and then during the newbies run I felt ok but overall a very nice day to run and a great day to have my new garmin.

Today for Cross Country practice we met at the international peace gardens over by the Jordan River Park Trail. We started the run thinking that the advanced group was going to go 8 miles not knowing that the trail would be flooded 2.5 miles into it. So we started the run going on the trail for 10 minutes as a warm up as a team. Then after the warm up we did a short fartlek workout. It was 2 sets of 3 minutes on and 2 minutes off. During those my legs felt absolutely horrible!! Probably because of yesterdays workout. I tried to stay up with Natalie for those but I couldn't get my legs to move that fast. So I stayed in front of Sarah but kind of close to her so I could hear her yell Off or On. Then when we were done with those we were at the flooded area so we turned around and met up with everyone under some bridge. We decided to go 1.5 out the other way but when we got to about 3 miles so .5 out the trail ended so we had to turn around and go back the way we came until we got to 4 miles. But I was thinking and talking to Ben and we were saying how we didn't want to do half our mileage in 2 days and only have to do like 4 the rest of the week. So we were thinking of going 6. When we got to about one mile to go Ben, Dakota, and Voung or however you spell his name decided to run across the red light on that busy street,,, I didn't want to do so I didn't cross it. Then Sarah caught up to me and we decided to go 7 miles instead of 6. When we got back to the peace gardens we were at 5.5 miles so we decided to go until we got to 6.25. When we got out of the peace gardens again the trail ended so we decided to go back. Then I swallowed a bug so I had to stop and gag for a bit. When we got back to the cars we were at 6.5 so we stopped at the swings to see if anyone was back besides the newbies and no one was so we went out to the street around a block to the baseball fields then Taylor and then were just at the drinking fountain when we got there. By this time I was going to faint of dehydration. I am glad that I didn't do the full 8 because I probably would of fainted because I had no liquids before the run. During this I was trying to push the pace and stay under a 8:30 avg. pace but it was 8:47. Hopefully my speed comes back because this was a miserable run even when I was just starting. My quads, bottom of my knee, and my "pockets" hurt right from the beginning and they hurt the entire time. Then when I was finally done we did 3 sets of one minute step ups and arm swings. Then I did my crunches, push ups, leg lifts, side to sides, calf raises, and quad strengths. 

Today for Cross Country we had a advanced group workout. We met at Fairmont Park and went 1.5 miles right and came back then 1.5 miles left and came back. When I was going right I was doing pretty good because I was running with the fast group but because of yesterdays workout my legs just couldn't handle it so at the turn around point I looked back and saw Sarah coming so I waited for her and ran the other 4.5 miles with her. The Advanced run absolutely sucked because it was 6 miles of just going straight. Then when we got back we broke into groups with the newbies for the scavenger hunt. My group had all of the fast guys so we had to go 6 minutes behind everyone. My group was Me, Tomy, Taylor, Dakota, Bill, Kevin, and Voung. We started out pretty slow and ran to the first location which was the golf course, then the boys and girls club, fairmont park, granite bakery, some condos, birds of paradise place, sprague library, sugarhouse park trail, barnes n noble, smiths, and then back to the park. The scavenger hunt was total of 4 miles but it felt like a ton more. When we got to smiths we saw the group of boys that started 3 minutes ahead of us and they were about 1 minute ahead of us at this point. So we quickly went to the store and got everything that we needed from it and sprinted and I mean sprinted back to the park to get to the slides. We did win the scavenger hunt but only by default. The boys in front of us forgot to get one of the ingredients at Smiths so they didn't win because of that. During the run today my legs weren't in pain really they just felt like lead the jelly back to lead. They did that in a continuous circuit throughout the entire run. I don't  know if I am just running weird or they aren't used to the amount of mileage that I am doing all at one time. But these past few days my legs aren't feeling to good. Hopefully they feel better by tomorrow otherwise I am only doing 7 miles. We will see. I don't want to go over my mileage for the week so I might only do 7 or 8. But other than that my form while I am running is getting better but the pain seems to never be ending. I was noticing when I was outside today that I have been getting blisters on the top of my second toe on both feet and on the back of my heal. The heal one is from my sock rolling down under my foot so I did the whole run rubbing my foot on my shoe but the ones on my toe is still a puzzle to me.

Today for Cross Country practice we met at the Park-N-Ride. We drove up to the pipeline trail. I was only planning on running 7 miles today but when I turned around at the 3.5 mile mark I ran into Bill and Natalie and Bill told me to go and finish the run with them. So we ran past the coolest place ever, it was a view of the entire valley. We kept running and passing into groups ahead of us until we eventually got back up to Scott and them. When we got to the turn around point I was feeling really good. I was staying with Natalie and Bill the entire time. That made me feel good. But on one of the turns I saw a rattle snake and I stopped because it was crossing the trail and I didn't want to run over because it might have bitten me. I waited for about 10 seconds then the snake passed by. By this time we had a little more than 4 miles to go. When I got to the 3.5 miles to go I ran into the Brighton Boys and they kept me pushing for the rest of the run because I didn't want them to pass me again. Which they didn't. When I got out of the trail I was about at 9.25 so I ran up the trail till about 9.65 then I came back and it was shorter for some reason so I added .08 on with Delaney. This was the first time ever that I ran 10 miles non stop and it felt really good. When I got home I did my core, crunches, push ups, leg lifts, quad strengths, and calf raises, and holding my knee up for a minute thingy. My blisters on my feet hurt a little bit but nothing to really complain about.

Here is my link to my garmin connect:

http://connect.garmin.com/player/95925165