I can do it. I will do it NINE times!

Woke up early again to run while at Youth Conf. (in Cedar, which was kinda odd - enemy territory, y'know), didn't really wake up until I was a mile or so into the run. Sadly, it took until then to realize that my watch was out of batteries... so I don't know exactly how far it was - I wanted to go 7, but I think it went short. I went way slow and easy out (30 min), then had a party going way fast on the way back (25 min).

Oh man. 5:30 is way too early to get up in the summer. yuk yuk yuk. Good thing YC is over! Next week I'll get no sleep either, though, since I'm going to Girls' State the entire week - at SUU again! But the 8-miler I went on was pretty good, if a bit boring. I decided to up my mileage a bit and the 8 felt really smooth and nice without dying at the end, so 'twas successful I think. Avg 8:13/mi, first mile was way slow (9:09), but my last two were my fastest (8:05 and 7:29)! I really need new shoes.

I think that my WBR team is "Roadkill." We're starting at 11:00 am and I'm runner #5, so I'll be running legs 5, 17 and 29.

We had Wasatch Back practice this morning, we went on a 5.5 miler from Wells Fargo. I started out with the pack of all the boys, then the boys slowed up and I stuck with Ross Decker and Dave Sheeran until 3.5-4 going avg. 6:42/mi! I felt good the first mile and most of the second, but in the third and end of fourth, I died and they kept going w/o me. After I got back, it turned out to be a 5.81 mile loop and I ran out .6 and back to get up to my goal of 7 miles, and happened upon the running club. Felt really good to get out and ran that fast again, since I haven't in a long while. And I'll have fun running in Cedar for another week while I'm at Girls' State.

Ran way too early in the morning (it was still dark when I finished), out in Cedar. 8:08/mi avg, felt pretty good, though my legs were kind of tired from running so fast yesterday. Sideache action for the last half or so wasn't so fun, but overall it was quite nice. Our dorms were locked and we weren't given keys, so when I left I propped the front door open with a small rock. When I got back, it had been removed, so I had to climb up the balcony in back to get back in. In my attempts to climb it, I bruised my shin again, so now half of it is lumpy and blue/green. Oh man.

Well, I meant to run morning like yesterday, but there was a huge rain/hail/lightning storm when I got up at 4:30 to run, so I decided to run in the evening. We got done with meetings around 9, so a bit after 9:30, I sneaked out the balcony and ran. Boy was it cold out! I was trying to get back before 10:25 so my roomie wouldn't worry, so I ran relatively fast...though I didn't bring my watch with me...probably around 7:30-7:50/mi most of the time, felt kinda pukey since I had eaten too recently. Then I sneaked back in the balcony (and made it back in time).

Slow 8 miler just to loosen up my tired legs, my hamstrings are pretty stiff. Along my way down Cedar's main street, I saw a dead cat and almost puked, so that was an adventure. I got to see the sun this morning! And the rock stayed in the door, so I didn't have to climb any balconies.

Barely squeezed in a run before our banquet, ran on a treadmill in the PE bldg. Ran at between 7:13-7:47 pace, mostly at around 7:30. Pretty boring and sweaty. Felt good, especially the last half mile I brought the pace down lots and went really fast. Good times.

Got to run out by my house for the first time in a long while. Pretty late at night, I ran the AP 9 miler out in Little Valley, ran without my watch, just to relax and not worry about speed at all. Stopped once around 2.5 to use the restroom - kind of awkward... I just knocked on a random person's door and asked to use theirs since I had to go so bad. Felt pretty nice, though I got a bit tired out by the end. I haven't run a 9 miler since February, so it was good to get out and run long.

AM-I'm just counting today's run as fast miles because I ran with Ross Decker the whole way and that's fast. My miles were 6:48, 6:40, 6:46, 6:42, 6:44 and the last .83 was 5:22 (6:27/mi pace). At 3.7 or so, I stopped for a one minute breather, since Decker was wearing me out. I really need new shoes, my arches were sore almost the whole run. After, we stretched lots, so maybe I won't be so sore tomorrow.

PM-Since in the WBR, you have to run 3 legs within a day or so, I decided to do a bit of two-a-days to get me used to running on fatigued legs. I ran out on the trail to St. James and around back to my house - 3.18 miles total, my goal was to keep my pace under 8:00 and I succeeded (avg 7:43/mi), though it was pretty tough. Lately, my left knee has been bugging me like it did during the track season and during this run it hurt the whole way, so I'm going to ice it and such. XC conditioning/practice starts tomorrow!

XC practice this morning, ran warmup, stretched and did agilities (they made me tired which was pretty pathetic). Then we went on the Washington Parkway loop - it was supposed to be 5, but my watch got it as 4.69... anyway I tried running kind of fast - under 7:30, and did ok, my avg. was 7:14/mi with one 7:47 (uphill) and another 6:35 (downhill) mile. Felt pretty good, but my legs are pretty fatigued from yesterday's runs. I'll probably take it way slow this afternoon.

Afternoon run, way too freaking hot outside... ran out on the Industrial rd a ways and back. I basically died, but hey... once you're dead you've got nothing but your soul to lose! And who needs a soul anyway? Ran pretty dang slow, didn't even time it so I wouldn't get depressed. (Probably was around 8:30-9:00/mi.) 

Evening run, ran (1 mile) to WBR practice today, and instead of Webb, we did repeats! .7 mile warmup to the trailhead, then 2x1600m repeats then turnaround and 4x800m repeats back with a couple minutes rest between each. Times were 5:52, 5:54, 2:57, 2:50, 2:52 and 2:54. They were ok I guess, though I was hoping to be a bit faster on my 8's, but oh well. Pretty exhausting workout... I'm pretty sure that I'll be sore as heck tomorrow. Hopefully not? After, cooled down .7 back to the church, then 1 mile back to my house and 1 around the park by my house to get to 8 today. My feet are begging me for new shoes - tomorrow! (I hope...)

A little warmup and such at xc practice, then we did a 3 miler out around that one stinky pond behind walmart. Ran real easy and comfy, left arch is real sore to walk on, but it felt ok to run on. Legs pretty tired out, but not as sore as I thought, so that was nice. I haven't decided whether or not to run some more miles this afternoon/evening, since I'm doing the 10k tomorrow. I think I'm going to take this evening off because my left arch has been hurting lots since this morning, especially while trying on a couple new pairs of shoes and running in them.

AWESOME RACE and huge PR (-4:14)!

Only did a bit of warmup - about .8 right before the race began. My foot was bugging me as I warmed up, so I was a little leary starting out. It felt surprisingly good until the last 1.5 or so when it hurt lots. The race was almost totally downhill, which made it fast, but it really wore me down. Here's my mile by mile play by play:

1 - 5:41, was just excited to get going and just went with the flow (which was a fast flow for sure)
2 - 5:58, kept at it going fast, but realized that I probably couldn't hold onto this pace much longer, so I slowed up a titch the last half
3 - 6:13, settled into a good steady pace that I felt like I could keep up and just went with it, getting a little tired, but I looked at my watch and realized that I'd just set a 3 mile PR of 17:52, so that made me happy
4 - 6:14, kept it consistent though this mile felt lots harder than last, the whole race Josh Decker was between 20-50 meters ahead of me and I wanted to beat him so bad, I wouldn't let him pull farther away no matter how tired I was getting
5 - 6:14, was surprised to see that this mile stayed consistent since I felt lots slower and it had a couple tiny uphills, but I guess I just wouldn't let myself blow an awesome race because of a little fatigue
6 - 6:11, legs felt pretty wiped and foot hurt, but I was almost done, so I stuck it out
.11 - ?, when I got to this last bit I didn't realize I was almost done until I only had a little to the end, so my kick was kinda short, then I forgot to stop my watch (I don't usually race with one)

Sadly, Decker beat me (curse you), and after my foot hurt lots and that made me sad, too. But I won and got a course record, so that's way fun! Ran a bit of a cooldown with Holt and Steve H. afterwards. I'm way elated about today's race. :-D

Woke up with really sore legs from yesterday, esp. calves, but I was already registered for the race, so I decided to do it anyway. Warmed up a bit and tried stretching out my soreness which wasn't all that successful. Foot was sore like yesterday while warming up, but felt fine while racing. Pushed it pretty hard the whole race, avg 5:43/mi - fast times since it was downhill like yesterday. If I hadn't run the 10k yesterday, I probably would've been faster, but hey, double double gold medals is pretty fun!

This evening, I went on an easy 5 miler with my little cousin John. Well, I meant it to be around 9:00/mi - I thought he was fast enough, but apparently not... avg. min/mile was 10:47. He kept stopping and I could hardly stand running that slow, so I would run circles around him, up cul-de-sacs and back and took off a couple of times to run faster - so it ended up being 5.68 plus .25 warmup and .25 cooldown. I mean, my legs were freakishly sore, but man, there's no way 5 miles should take and hour to run. I don't think I've run that slow ever.

WBR practice this morning, ran the usual loop, my legs are still pretty dern sore from the races esp. my calves, so I didn't even try to run as fast as last week. Ran mostly with Zac, about 7:05-7:20 pace most of the time. 

Warmup and such at xc practice, then we ran to the tortoise fence in the desert and back. Calves still way sore esp. on up and downhills and legs still tired out from the races. Lots of random aches as I ran, not really the greatest run, but I'm over it. Probably will run an easy 3-5 miler this evening.

It turns out that our team name is "The Homestar Runners," so that should be fun!

No evening run, scraped up my foot quite a bit while playing around with friends so I decided to let it breathe tonight w/o a run.

Ran to WBR practice (last one!), then we ran .7 warm up, then did 16 x 60 sec repeats with 60 sec easy jog between each rep. Tried keeping my pace around 6:00/mi - so each repeat I ran .17 - .18. Felt pretty good, didn't go crazy fast, just kept pace nice and steady the whole time (except my last one). After, we did .7 cooldown and I got a ride home (from Ally and I love her). My scraped up foot hurted lots when we ran slow, but during repeats I just got used to it and it wasn't too bad. Last couple of repeats my left knee gave me some sharp pains and achiness, but I think I'm over it. Mostly good stuff, ran through sprinklers at the end and got wet wet wet. 

XC practice again, just an easy 3-miler in washington w/jac and ott (except they ditched me at the end because I died on the uphill because my legs are tired). EXCITEMENT FOR WBR TOMORROW!

My first leg of the WBR (#5) was at 2:30 pm, I jogged around a bit to get ready, then as I started out I kinda wanted to keep it around 8:00 pace, but that idea died around mile 3-4, and my last full mile was slow slow, avg. min/mile for this leg was 8:49. It was kinda hot out and dusty on the dirt road (esp. with vans driving by all the time), the first four miles felt pretty good, I wasn't racing real hard and it was mostly up with some small downs that made for good breathers.  The last three miles were totally uphill and really hard. I started counting people that I passed and my total for this leg was 8. Miles were 8:00, 8:12, 8:32, 8:41, 9:08, 9:12, 10:02, and the last .4 at 8:19 pace (I counted these as slow miles)

I cooled down on a bike during all of leg 6 and had crazy fun going down the dirt hill at ultra fast speeds (I beat our van to the next exchange by a ways). 

Next leg (#17) was at 10:30 pm, pretty much perfect running weather: cool and breezy. I ran this leg in my waffles since I really wanted to push it on this leg (since my last was downhill). Supposed to be 5.4, but my watch got it 5.5 - oh well. Ran 7:09/mi avg., with miles of 6:57, 7:15, 7:18, 6:57, 7:08 and the last .5 at 7:25 pace. Amanda rode along with me for miles 2-4.5, which was fun. I passed either 12 or 13 people on this leg - I'll just count it as 13 because it's bigger. My legs were getting pretty wiped by the end of this leg.

Cooled down during the next leg on bike, but it killed me because it was lots of uphill and not really cooling down - more like another workout. Dar.

Last leg (#29) was at 8:00 am, first 2 miles were pretty intense downhill, then last 2 were flatter, though still a titch downhill. Since it was my last leg, I decided to go all out, also I made a goal of passing more people than I did during my second leg. I'm guessing my first 2 miles were around 5:30-5:50 pace (since my watch ran out of batteries about .2 into this leg), then I borrowed Big Willy's for the last 2.28 which were 5:40 and 6:32 with .28 at 6:45 pace. I got my goal, since I passed 14 people (almost 15, but my legs had no guts left right at the exchange point), so that makes a total of 35 people I passed and nobody ever passed me! After this, I was pretty much glad to be done, legs basically wasted, but I'm up for it next year!

Ran out on River road and back on the Virgin river trail by my house, was a bit short so I ran around the park a bit to make it 4 miles. Was pleasantly surprised that my legs felt pretty good during the run - avg. 7:33/mi and negative splits for the whole run, my foot felt sore for the first mile (it hurt this weekend, especially before I ran) and after I finished. Legs a bit stiff, but overall a good run.

At XC we had a fun day, we warmed up and ran to Holt's house, then ran back to the school to play ultimate Frisbee for a while. I had to leave early to take Rachel home so she could get to work on time, but when I left our team was winning!

Right when I got home, I set off on an actual run since there wasn't one at XC. Randomly had the urge to go longer today, so I set off on my bloomington/ manowar 8 miler. At first I meant to take it easy, but I decided about a mile into it to try and keep all my miles under 8:00. The first 6 miles were really good, I felt really strong and didn't have to push hard to keep my pace quicker, but the last 2 were a bit harder - esp. with the vermillion and bridge hills to worry about. I did keep them fast and ate some gnats while I was at it - avg. pace 7:40/mi. This run made me happy.  : )

Woke up late and ran at around 11:00, and boy did that suck. Hopefully the weather will be nicer this weekend at Girls' Camp. Anyway, took it easy for the most part, my legs were a bit tired from yesterday's run so just kept my pace around 8:00-8:30, avg was 8:17/mi. Was harder than I thought it should be to keep that pace, foot and knee hurted a bit. Maybe I'll just get a brand new left leg. That would make life lots nicer.

Ran a shorter easy run out on the dirt road in the mountains by Zion while at Girls' Camp. The elevation was at 6750 or so, so it was a bit more tiring, especially with the last half mile completely uphill and sandy. Avg. 8:26/mi.

Had a great time on some fun trails this morning, the first half mile was uphill and STEEP, so I almost died and had to stop a couple times, but there was the most awesome view from the lookout point and I ran with some wild turkeys and it was basically my very favorite run ever. I am also happy that with all this uphill and hard running, I managed to keep my pace (barely) under 9:00 miles! With runs like these, who needs anemones? 

Evening run, meant to go long, but felt quite crappy and didn't want to die tomorrow fasting since I started my fast before running (bad plan), so I cut it shorter and still died on it, ran about 8:00 miles and had a sideache for the last 3 miles. Not so great on mileage this week, but I plan on doing lots better next week for sure.