Sock tans

So today we met at Sugarhouse. We went up 21st to 21st, then over to 13th, up to wasatch and got a drink at the tennis courts/golf course. Then we went along wasatch to thunderbird, went to the drinking fountain on Foothill, then went back to thunderbird and down to 21st, then back to the park. Finished at 7. I liked this run a lot more than the cemetery run, it's been getting old. I was able to stay with Natalie and Tomy, but then again we weren't going too fast. We averaged 8:03. My foot hurt, I think it could be the shoes I've been wearing, it's been in the back of my mind for a couple days now, I just hate to waste money on shoes that don't work. But I'll have my dad take me to the Nike outlet when he gets back from his trip. 

Today was at Liberty, we did 2 laps to get to 3.

Today was the Deseret News 10k. I did about 1.75 warmup including strides.

I got out good, although some guys almost pushed me over right off the bat, I nearly fell. I was in good position, but it kind of scared me to be up so far, I didn't like the thought of crashing and people passing me. But I just tried to keep up the pace. After a little while, around the first mile, people started passing me, and I was doing a good job of matching people. I would just try to match their stride and pace and most of the time it would work. The downhill helped me, I think I'm getting better at downhill running. When we were running along 13th, I crashed huge on the one uphill, I stopped matching people and probably 6 people passed me there. Going down South Temple I pulled myself together and started to go with people again. Mile 3 I remember thinking that I was only halfway done and that brought me down a lot. Took a minute before I tried picking it up once more. Still along South Temple, I started to focus on individuals and work up to them, some would come with me and some wouldn't. After a little while of that I settled again into my previous pace and people started passing again, but this time my legs were so tired, my quads were killing, I didn't match anyone. Not too many people passed me there, but with every person that did, it felt like another weight was put on my shoulders. When we got to the parade route, I saw people sleeping on blankets, and I'll admit I was jealous, I didn't want to finish, I wanted to lie down and take a nap. But I kept going as much as I wanted to stop. The energy from the crowd was great, for like a half mile I loved it and felt good, but then I got back into my setting where people were passing me, people pushing strollers were in front of me, and all of a sudden I didn't want people to look at me. I probably looked like crap but whatever. I got the pity clap, people were passing me again. Occasionally I matched people. When we finally rounded the last corner, I started to pick it up a little bit, but I couldn't help but think about how far away the finish was, so not that great of a kick for me.

My time was 40:42, way better than I had expected, with how much I thought I had crashed I remember thinking that I'd be lucky to break 44. Even then I thought of how awful it would be if I did worse today than I did on the flat winter series 10ks, or even the one at the Tour de Run with hills in it. Probably not a great mindset, but for having that bad of an attitude towards this race I am happy with it, even though I know I could have done better. I got 8th in my age group, and as for overall I guessed, I remember it being somewhere around 129ish.

I definitely think my arch problem was my shoes, I ran everything today in flats and it didn't hurt that bad. I barely noticed it. It's amazing how much shoes can affect you.

Did a lap cool down with Stormy and Eden, they seemed a bit reluctant but I'm glad they came. It felt nice after stiffening up. Later ran through the park with Emily and Bill on his bike. 

I went to bed really late last night due to a family thing, so i was super tired and totally slept in way too long, and when I finally woke up I had to get ready for work because that's how late in the day it already was. I felt like such a normal kid, with no running in the morning. Today I decided that I wanted to go up in the Avenues, I don't really know why. So I did our Avenues run, but I just ran the hills, not stride up them like we normally do. The hills were bigger than I thought, it's been a while since I've done that run. I took Shriners way back like we normally do. I stopped at the drinking fountain on 11th because it was HOT. When I was coming back to Alta, I noticed that the drinking fountain was back in place, so I checked it out, and to my surprise it was on!!! Going in the U campus I had a blonde moment, I thought, "where are all the people?" Then I remembered it was summer and most people go home. Also there is a lot of construction on the U campus, more than there was during track season. When I got to sunnyside I decided that I didn't want to be done so soon, a little odd but I felt good. So I went up to the zoo and took wasatch to 13th and went back home. It was a slower run, but I am so sore from yesterday and it was kind of hilly too. Now that I've stiffened up, I can barely move. If I hurt this bad, I can't imagine how the half marathon and marathoners are feeling.

AM:

I need to start waking up earlier. Without a team practice to make it to, I find myself hitting the snooze button five million times before I finally decide I need to go running. It got so hot so fast, my original plan to go for a 10 miler at least this morning was ruined. I stopped at 4, I'll go again tonight, it'll have to be a really long run.

PM:

Oh. My. Gosh. Worst cramp of my life. Finally I decided it wasn't going away and just went running anyway, and it sucked. Longest 3 miles ever. Oh yeah, forgot to mention that I'm completely drained from work today. We took a field trip and the kids were out of control, might I say it was right in the middle of the day where it was hottest. Not a great day.

AM:

 I met Eleanor at Harmons, then we went up to Foothill and over to the drinking fountain/flag pole, where we saw Topher. So he joined us and we went up Thunderbird to Wasatch, then went over to the tennis courts drinking fountains, down to Foothill and went to Topher's house and I ran back home to get to 7.