Running is a means and never merely an end

Ran downtown and throughout Dillsboro with Shannon this afternoon, which was really fun. It was great getting to catch up with her and hear about how the team this year is looking and talk to her about what to expect as she starts her college searching process. Hearing her talk about their practices this summer was actually really encouraging for me because it reminded me how easy I trained and how little mileage I did last summer, and I was still able to go sub-20...so that makes me excited to see how this season is going to go since I've gotten a solid endurance base in!

10 minute warm up around the Rec, then I headed inside to do my tempo run on the treadmill. I've just gotten pretty sick of running in circles for my tempos...not sure why I thought running in place would be more fun though haha, but it actually was. At least I did know my exact pace and didn't have to fumble around with my watch splits. 5 miles tempo; splits were 7:13/7:13/7:19/7:13/7:10, so 7:13.6 average mile pace. It felt good, better than most tempo days! Skipped my cool down (walked around and got some water and it honestly just slipped my mind) on accident...oops.

Upper body weight lifting circuit afterwards.

Nice little jog in downtown Sylva and through Dillsboro for my last run before I leave for college. I decided there's no where else I'd rather do it than right downtown in the place I grew up. It's funny how all of the memories come flooding back with every single place I pass by now that I know I won't be passing by them again for a long time. As I ran through Mainstreet I started imagining how many parades I've seen march through here; how may different decorations I've seen on the light poles throughout the years; all of the Greening Up the Mountains festivals; every day as a child that I spent running around from store to store with my sisters, then playing in the fountain; etc..... This sentimental mess was me for the entire run. Don't get me wrong, I am so incredibly excited for Wofford! But that excitement will manifest itself tenfold once I am there, so I am just really trying to take this last bit of time at home to appreciate what I have here at home. I am going to miss this place, but I'll miss my family more than anything. I don't think they read my blog....but if any of you are reading this, I hope you know how much I love you!

First day at Wofford! I won't get into the deets of my whole day, but it has been pretty great. At 3 we went for a short jog around the course that we will be running tomorrow for our time trial. Girls are just doing 2 miles and boys are doing 5k. It was really fun to run in a group with my new teammates, I haven't ran in a group in about a year. I'm just so excited about absolutely everything around me!

AM- Lots of sparatic running today... I wasn't cleared to do the time trial this morning (paperwork) but I still warmed up and cooled down with them. Then when we got back on campus I time trialed by myself, guestimating what a 2 mile was. Based on that, although I was unsure of the distance, I would have stacked up very well with all of the other girls this morning. Half a mile warm up and cool down for that.

PM- in the afternoon, we had a quick shakeout jog to the JET building and did a strength and core session with the weights coach. It was actually so fun! I really liked it and it worked my arms and abs sufficiently. I hope we do something else like that again soon. 

AM- 4 mile run with the girls & coach Gracey to Converse College and back.

PM- Lecture on running form/injury prevention, then another 4 miles. Ran with Anya and Chandler for 3 and then Chandler dropped off. It was 98 degrees and absolute torture. Core workout afterwards in the lockerroom, felt pretty productive.

AM- steady state run at the fairly hilly Duncan Park. 7 miles total continuosly of 1 mile warm up, 5 miles at 7:30 goal pace, 1 mile cool down. Ran with Anya, Chandler, Alissa, and Kiersten for the first 4 miles of the tempo, and then they stopped and Anya and I had 1 more mile to do, plus our cooldown. Coach Gracey joined us for that, which was cool. I was dying on the last big hill and probably slowed to about an 8:30 pace for that 50-75 meters. I've never done a tempo with hills though, and never gone straight into one from the warmup either. Considering that, I am pretty happy with my efforts.

PM- Weightlifting and strength/core session.