Running is a means and never merely an end

7 miles on my own on the trails by Millikan. It is such a beautiful day! February 8th and 70 degrees...I'll take it. I felt really good initially, but eventually my legs were just absolutely exhausted and I cut the run from 8 miles to 7. Maybe a day off would treat me well. Oh well.

Church was really good this morning. That, in conjunction with my talk with Nancy afterwards, got me thinking about my mindset during races. Perhaps I make it too much about me. How often do I pray or give thanks during a race? Next to never. Nancy said a cool way to keep your mind constantly defaulting back to God is to choose a specific portion of the track to dedicate to prayer every time you go around it. I'm really excited about trying that!!

8 miles easy on my own, 8:12 avg pace. I loved this run - lots of exploring in the rain around this neighborhood area I've been wanting to explore for a while. Had to rush off to lab right as soon as I finished so I couldn't stretch (or shower, or eat..). But I am headed to weights right now so I'll be able to loosen up and roll out after that!

2 mile warm up, then a little track work today! 2000, 400, 1200, 400, 1000, 400. The 2k was at 10k pace, the 1200 at 5k, and the 1000 a little faster than 5k, maybe just over 3k pace. The 400's were just as fast as we could do them, but keeping it under control. We got a 1 minute jog between the long reps and the 400, and 3 minutes jog between the 400 and the next long rep. I don't know my long split times, but for the 400's I hit 87, 86, and 85. After that we did 3 "X" strides on the infield, and a (too)brief cool down because several of us were about to be late for class.

AM- 5 miles recovery. 8:15 avg pace.

PM- another 5 miles easy with Breck. We explored a lot around parts of Spartanburg we hadn't been to, it was so fun. 8:22 avg. Weights afterwards.

Warmed up 2 miles, then did a 300 workout on the track in honor of our meet this weekend on a 300m track in West Virigina! The furthest I've ever been north, wowwie. 2 sets of 5x300 with a 100 jog back to the start in between each. Kept these fairly consistent. Cooled down.

I was so productive on the 6 hour drive over with my homework, it was crazy. And we had the best night in the hotel, so many laughs. So I was already coming into this meet with good vibes! Then I also absolutely loved the track, 300 meters was such an awesome length. And it was so nice to run the 3k again. I really enjoy this race.

So Coach Harris wanted Breck and I to hit 11:20, and said we needed to run 67-68's for each 300 lap to do that. The first few laps were under, maybe 65's or so. Then we evened out to a few 68's and maybe a 69, and then the last 2 were faster of course. I was never really in no-mans-land during this, I was always either right with Breck or right in front of another girl or two. Breck stayed on my shoulder for the first 2 laps, then took the lead and ran 10 or so meters ahead, and gapped to 15. Stayed like that for a while, and during that time the girls from Marshall behind me were being SO rude as far as racing ettiquite goes. They were like stepping on the back of my shoes and hitting the back of my elbows every time my arms came back. That was kind of annoying but if anything it kept me from slowing down, so I don't really know what their goal there was. With maybe 3 laps to go, Breck and I were back together. I think we both knew we were gonna PR. We both ran the last lap nice and hard, not sure what the split was but it didn't really matter, and I went 11:17, she went 11:18. Which is a 18 second PR for me and a 24 second PR for Breck!!! Mell ran the 3k with us too and PR'd as well, and went sub-11! What a good day for the distance squad. Super thankful for the good mindset and fun weekend in general that God gave me, and then threw in a PR just because He can. :)