Running is a means and never merely an end

7 miles easy, with 6 20/40's (20 sec hard, 40 easy) thrown in torwards the end to wake up the legs. Ran smoothly at an easy 8:00ish pace, maybe 7:50 for a few miles.

I am leaving for camp this afternoon till Wednesday, so I will have to get my runs in each day at like 5am.......not sure how I feel about that. I'm excited right now but I feel like I may be taking that statement back tomorrow morning :) just gotta do my best though!

Side note - I weighed myself at the rec 2 days ago for the first time in a few weeks, and I was like 133.5lbs, 8 pounds heavier than I've ever weighed myself at. I know weight can vary from day to day and there's a lot of variables there, but say that varied even a generous 3 lbs, that's still 5 lbs I've gained at least. I haven't been doing heavy lifting or anything that would put on muscle bulk, so I'm pretty sure it has to be fat weight. Feeling pretty crappy about that. I made this account on the livestrong.com website to log my meals and workouts and track my caloric intake. So far its been holding me a lot more accountable. My problem is not that I eat so badly...it's that I eat waaaay too much. I may have multi-grain cheerios for breakfast, but I'll have like 3 servings. So hopefully if I can adjust my serving sizes and skip a few desserts per week, I can hover back around 125 (or less, with any luck) by the time I head over to Wofford for training in a few weeks.

7 mile negative split run. Did an out and back through Cullowhee and turned around at 28 minutes (guessing that's about 3.5 miles, halfway, if I was going 8min pace or so) and made it back the same distance in 24:34, so I was pretty satisfied in that. Had to stop and go to the bathroom in the woods about 2 miles in...this is becoming somewhat of a regular habit now for my body and I'm kind of frustrated about that. It feels like I'm cheating when I have to stop.

6 miles around WCU around 6:45am before a jam packed camp day. Felt good, refreshing, and fun!

Back from camp! I was pretty tired but I buckled down and headed out for a long run. About an 8 minute pace with 6 20/40's (20 sec hard, 40 sec easy) mixed in torwards the end. It ended up feeling absolutely fantastic, not just running-wise but also just environmentally. It was like fall today! I was just so happy the whole time, a) because I felt so good out there and b) to just be able to soak in how awesome it is that God gave me this ability and this beautiful place to use it in. This is why I love me some long run days!

Good, easy run around the rec center & speedwell. 8 minute pace or so, maybe 7:50. Did some lifting afterwards, all legs, and then stretched. Made a nice little protein recovery shake when I got home!

My calorie ratio has been good since I got home from camp. I really let go of it for 2 days at camp though...one of the days, I consumed like 3,600 calories?! But I've been in the negatives (intake verses exercise) for the past 2 days so I feel good about that.

Terrible workout today. Supposed to be 7 mile hill-surge run, but my legs were absolutely spent from lifting yesterday (bad choice of timing) and I just felt like I was killing myself to keep from walking. Ended up walking a little at 5 miles in, then just cutting it off at 6 miles. Got 10 or 11 hill surges in but they were pretty crappy excuses for surges if you ask me.

6 miles on the treadmill this morning because my dad didn't think it was safe for me to run around Charleston by myself. Pretty much torture, as dreadmills always are, but it felt fine running-wise. Excited to finish up the last few hours of our trip to the beach today!!