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

WAC CHAMPS! Both boys and girls teams won it! I got 2nd team All-WAC and it was a crazy race. Right at the starting line, my team captain told me that the first freshman finisher would get "Freshman of the Year," so I set my sights on that as we got going in the race. Sadly, I ended up being the 2nd freshman by 9 seconds, but I'm still pretty happy with how I did!

Now, for the play-by-play! First mile went by quickly with tons of downhill and a split of 5:45. At that point, almost all of my team was right in the front pack together and it felt great. I let up a bit on the second mile and fell behind the lead pack, but still held reasonably strong, remembering to push on the turns and little downhills (which were far too few), so I didn't loose too much ground on the leaders. 2-mile time was 12:00 (I think it mighta been a tad long). As the last mile came around, I started pushing more and slowly started gaining of the people ahead of me. On the last half mile, I really picked it up and caught quite a few girls. The big hill right before the finish killed me, but it killed the people near me even more...hehehe. Into the finishing stretch, I passed two or three more and ended up coming in right behind my teammates (we finished 3, 9,10,11,15). The course was pretty hard and possibly long, since all the times were slow (the winner didn't even break 18:00). We thought the points were really close, but we won by 18 points. It was super fun to win the meet as a team, my voice is half-gone from all the screaming and yelling we did in celebration!

Today, my legs aren't even sore, so I'm pretty sure I could've run faster. Shucks. I'll do better at Regionals in two weeks, though! (GT 498) (DD spike 101)

Out 25 minutes on the time-trial course, then back accelerating from 7:00/mi pace. Well, um, we were supposed to, but didn't actually start at 7:00/mi pace. It was more like a 6:30/mi pace that accelerated a little bit per mile. Splits were 6:23, 6:17, 6:09 and the last .15 at 5:59/mi pace. Tough, but lots of fun to fly along with the team and enjoy running fast! Then a bit of cooling down with Kimmie and Ash. Good day, knee was only a bit sore, very manageable. Yay! (GT 505.7)

A bit rainy and cold out (though I luckily avoided the worst part of it since it poured rain and snow this morning and now that I'm done it's hailing), but the run was remarkably awesome nonetheless! I love the peak part of the season, I just feel energized and running fast feels effortless. Today's run was just that, fun and really easy, even though my avg. pace was 7:45/mi. New shoes are in order, though. (GT 512.2)

And... for the first time ever, I voted!

Weird weird weird workout today. We ran 600m loops at the middle school with random 200-600m pushes whenever coach told us to. For 20 minutes. And somehow "rabbits" were incorporated into it? It mostly made no sense. But it was fun? Um. Yeah! Coach is crazy! (GT 516.7) (DD spike 103.7)

Slow and easy in the freaking freezing this morning. Glad I got it done early. (GT 522.2)

Got up early to get the workout done before heading down to SLC for the weekend. Quite a few came, so it just flew by and felt just like normal practice. We did two 1600's (first 1200 at 6:20/mi pace, then last 400 at hbl), then an 1800 acceleration starting at 8:00/mi pace and speeding up each 200 until hbl for the last 200. There was one place on the loop (at the middle school) around a backstop that was so slick and muddy that it was really hard to keep the pace around, it was gross! But fun! And the weather was pretty nice out compared to yesterday. (GT 525.7) (DD spike 106.5)

Nice run in Salt Lake from my brother's place. Went up Harvard to 18th then on Michigan to Foothill and on that until I got onto a paved trail for a while. Went out at 8:00/mi pace for most of it, on the way back I did a 20-minute push (7:00/mi GP) splits: 6:53, 6:59 and 6:51/mi pace for .9). Most of the run just cruised by, especially with how great the warmer weather felt. (GT 535.4)

After, I played Ultimate for a couple of hours. And not just fun and easy Ultimate, hard and intense with lots of sprinting Ultimate. My legs are beyond dead. Sore, stiff, tired and killing me. Especially the hip flexors, quads and hammies. Ouch.

Rainy rainy day... dismal. But not a bad workout considering, I guess. Frustrating though. Four 1k's at the middle school field - first 600 at 2:21 GP, last 400 at 1:24 - total GP 3:46. Times were 3:46, 3:39, 3:42, 3:39~ish (overlapped with the boys so there was some confusion on that last one). Overall good, just wet. Hot cocoa after to warm up! :D (GT 539.1) (DD spike 109)

Out and back toward into the canyon, then ran over to the grocery store to pick up some squash. And avocados. And brownie mix. Mmmm. Then I ran back. The groceries were kinda heavy, though. And awkward. (GT 545.4) 

Another of the funny 20-minute fartlek sessions at the middle school with a random 7:30/mi paced rabbit. Except on the last one, she started sprinting! Ouch. Still, not a bad workout, fun and relaxing for the most part. Excited for Regionals this weekend! (GT 549.1) (DD 111.8)

Easy easy run on a trail in Ft. Collins, Colorado. Thirty minutes seemed SO short! It  was awesome. Knee being a bit dumb, but the season's almost done, yay! (GT 552.8)

Windy and cold at the course today as we ran around for a half-hour. And did a little push near the end, then some strides out from the start line. Coach had us do this thing where when he whistled, we took three quicker steps and told us to do it tomorrow in the race so we don't get dead in the head. Good stuff! I'm super pumped and ready to qualify for Nationals! *Cross fingers* (GT 556.8)

Sucky, sucky race. No Nationals for us, so the season is officially OVER. And my foot hurts tons. Frustrating all around. I'll fill in details later.

The more I let it sit, the less mad I am about how the race went, but it was definitely a disappoinment. Before the race, it was a bit chilly out, but my legs felt fresh and only had a bit of tightness in the hamstring - I really felt like it would be an absolutely awesome race. Obviously not.

Right from the starting gun, my foot hurt. Not just a little like it had been the last few days, but a LOT, right on the ball of my left foot right below the big toe. For the first 1k loop, I just figured it would go away and stuck right with the team as planned. Even on the second loop I did pretty well, but from then on, it got kinda ugly. The foot hurting so much just shattered my racing determination and drive and I found myself losing the team and just trying to hang on and finish the race. I HATE that! More than anything, I'm mad at myself for giving up at that point. Anyway, I just tried to hang on to the pace and keep pressure of my foot so I could just finish it. In my entire life, I don't think I've been so close to dropping out of a race as I was. So, I guess that's the little victory amid the suckiness of this race - I did finish. Ha. But that just sucks. My foot has been throbbing and painful since then, so now I'm going to take a week off of running and hopefully get this foot and hamstring healthy for the Indoor Track season coming up. Bleh.

And our team took 8th place. Most non-triumphant. (GT 559.3) (DD spike 115.5)

Mountain biking! A bit over 9 miles - up on the Green Canyon trail and back to the dorm. Got a bit muddy and had some crazy encounters with rocks, but no blood. Lots of fun!

Today I did some exercises to help strengthen my hamstrings so that they don't keep having issues! Whee!

Ran to the training room the long way. Near the end my hamstring started to seize up, so I stopped and walked the rest of the way. Then I did tons of hamstring exercises and now I'm dead. Tomorrow I am heading home to St. George! I'm SO EXCITED!!

Webb loop by myself in the rain. First real run in a week and a half or so. Besides my legs, it felt surprisingly good. Hamstring was kinda lame. But it was pretty nice out, I didn't even need long sleeves! And I got super muddy. (K 5.2)

Happy Thanksgiving! Ran early early early with Amanda, her mom and some friends. They went 12, but I cut it short so my hammie won't be quite so sucky. The legs are still feeling super craply. Eew. (K 10.5)

Went out on a crazy 14-miler this morning with Holt, Clyde and Logan on some trails in Hurricane. The weather and views were awesome, though the distance was a little much for my out-of-shape-ness. After about 8 miles, I was ready to be done! Thankfully the guys slowed down so I could keep up. All in all, I managed not to die and we didn't get hit by any vehicles on the way down the highway. Lots of fun! And I got to see Mik'L, which was most excellent! (K 24.5)